Defendo et Spes
by ImpromptuApathy
Summary: Forced away from his life in Konoha, Naruto must find a new meaning for his life in a place of magic. Yet at the same time, something holds him back. Faced with demons, memories, and teaching, he'll learn a deeper meaning to human connections.
1. Prologue

A gust rustled the leaves of the verdant forest as a blur of orange and yellow sped from branch to branch, disturbing the serenity of the dense green surrounding Konoha, the Village Hidden in the Leaves. The cause of said blur was a five year-old child known as Uzumaki Naruto, with three bright orange-stained genin, still wet with paint, hot on his tail.

Sticking his tongue out at the approaching genin, he yelled out, "That's what you get for messing with Uzumaki Naruto, the future Hokage!"

Thinking back on his latest scheme, he widely grinned. It was one of his best pranks yet, and best of all, he actually had a reason to put his artist's touch on the dull ninja hair.

* * *

_After being told by the stern matron of the orphanage to go leave her alone, Naruto decided to walk around the vast village, taking the time to explore every nook and cranny for possible future pranks. He spotted a few locations of interest for hiding from pursuing ninja, but he had no idea what to do for his latest mischief. However, what he did spot, was good, old Teuchi ojii-san's wonderful Ichiraku Ramen Bar. Naruto was short on ryou, but ojii-san always gave him a free bowl every day as long as he visited._

_Teuchi ojii-san and Ayama nee-san always gave him special attention, even when the other villagers glared at him and immediately shied away. He never understood why they did that, but all Naruto would think was that he would prove them wrong by becoming the world's greatest ninja and Hokage. And so, he was content with what he had, being free to prank anyone he wanted and eating ramen, even though he wished he had a few friends his age, instead of people like Hokage jii-san. _

_With a grin on his face, he started towards the holy Ichiraku Ramen. Four people were already situated, slurping their ramen and talking animatedly, but that still left four more seats. His favorite seat was calling out to him, and the savory smell of ramen surrounded him, indulging his senses. Yet a few steps before he reached the shop, three genin rushed in with their sensei jogging behind, back from a mission, taking the remaining spots._

_How dare they! These ninja blocked the path to his ramen goodness. He walked by the ramen store in despair, looking longingly at the store. Ayame, ignorant of Naruto's need, cheerfully waved hello. Naruto dully waved back, and then immediately glared at the backs of the offending genin, swearing vengeance._

_Naruto silently grabbed some string and orange paint from his home and rushed back, actually happy to see the genin still eating. He was slightly disappointed that the jounin had already left to report his mission to the Hokage, but he at least wanted to get the rookie ninjas for stealing his food. Without alerting the hungry genin, he silently pulled the string across the entrance of Ichiraku's and waited on the roof with the three buckets of paint._

_About fifteen minutes later, he heard yells of "Gochisou-sama deshita" and quickly set up. A moment later, Naruto heard a resounding thud and quickly poured a can of paint on each genin and ran away cackling. Seeing the blur of orange running away, the genins' eyes quickly saw red and charged after him with loud yells. To the rest of the world, they looked like orange monsters, but all the genins cared about was getting that little kid._

_

* * *

_'_I gotta remember that prank, that'll keep people from taking away my ramen,'_ Naruto thought as he continued to run, _'Which reminds me, I need to find something to eat for lunch.'_

Completely ignoring where he was going, Naruto failed to notice the red-headed man standing lost in his thoughts.

'_Bloody hell, I knew I took a wrong turn to get back. When in doubt follow the brightest star she says. I don't think that applies when you're in a completely foreign world,'_ the mysterious man thought with a sigh,_ 'These scrolls are pretty fancy though, nifty souvenirs. Good old gold, always valuable wherever you go. Now what was that incantation to teleport back to Mundus Magicus?'_

He immediately pulled a small notebook and flipped a few pages.

"Aha!" he audibly yelled and began chanting the incantation.

Naruto, lost in his thoughts, looked up at this, barely noticing the man. He was a red-headed man with a laid-back look, wearing a black t-shirt and black pants along with a beige jacket. He was carrying a huge backpack and a large wooden stick in one hand, curved at the top in a spiral, and holding a small, black notebook with the other. Naruto noticed that he was speaking in some foreign language as he ran into him. The man's face became one of surprise as his lips formed a small o as light engulfed both of them and dissipated into the heavens, leaving nothing behind in the forest except for three orange, baffled genin.

* * *

Meanwhile, Sarutobi Hiruzen, third Hokage of Konoha, felt his pipe leave his mouth and clatter on the ground. His withered face displaying complete bewilderment as he saw Uzumaki Naruto, the number one prankster of Konoha , container of Kyuubi no Kitsune, his unofficial grandson, disappear in lights in his crystal ball with a completely foreign man.

Quickly he called the ANBU standing in the room.

"Go look for Uzumaki Naruto immediately!"

"What did he do now?" chuckled the ANBU in a dog-mask.

"He's disappeared! Now go find him immediately!" yelled Sarutobi.

Kakashi's eyes widened behind his mask. Quickly using _Shunshin no Jutsu_, he and ten other ANBU immediately ran into the forest to look for the blonde child.

However, each day, the dog-faced ninja came back to the Hokage empty handed, despite searching throughout the forest and within every nook and cranny of the village. Covering a large portion of the forest each day, it became evident that wherever Naruto was, he would not be found here. With a long sigh, Kakashi went to report to the Hokage once again.

"We've searched for days Hokage-sama, but we can't find Naruto anywhere," said Kakashi with a hint of sadness.

"Have you searched everywhere?" Sarutobi said frantically.

"Hai, Hokage-sama."

Sarutobi felt the years catch up to him as he found himself losing another loved one. While Naruto was very active, he never ceased to bring a smile to the old Hokage's face with his crazy antics. The old man knew the chances of finding Naruto would be slim to none now. Sighing, he turned towards the windows, his eyes drifting towards the rising moon.

'_Naruto, wherever you are, be safe and happy. I have a feeling your adventures have only just begun.'_

AN: Well the lamest, shortest prologue ever. But it seemed good to end it hear because it marks the end of the one portion and begins a new one, well that and I have to switch computers so I'll just upload what I have now. I suppose I should take a stab at the other ideas wandering my head, but I think I'll get this off and running for a bit before starting my other stories. Oh the joys of summer (well except summer homework, that's just lame).


	2. Chapter 1

"_Hey kid, wake up! Come on, kid."_

Naruto's blue eyes emerged underneath his heavy eyelids, still disoriented from whatever just happened. He looked around wondering where he was. Unfortunately, all he could tell was that he was in a dark cave, illuminated by a small, flickering candle next to where he was lying down.

"_Oh thank goodness, you're alive."_

"Ano," Naruto looked questioningly at what the man was saying, not understanding what was said, "wakarimasen."

The red-haired man palmed himself in the face and quickly switched languages.

"Haha, gomen, I forgot that you speak Japanese," said the man, "Anyway kid, what's your name? I can't keep calling you kid you know."

Naruto, seeing as the man was nice enough to care for him and was willing to talk to him, opened himself a little bit.

"My name's Uzumaki Naruto, future Hokage!"

The man twitched at that, ears not used to the vivacious blonde's loud voice bouncing off the cave walls. After recovering from the rambunctious introduction, he noticed exactly how powerful this Naruto kid could be. However, he noticed two things. One was that it was not exactly tons of magic power in his arsenal, but it was something like it. The second was something much more ominous. It seemed as if this mysterious energy inside the kid was like a coin. One side was an abnormally large magic potential, or whatever it's called in his world. On the other side was _enormous_ magic potential, but it seemed sinister in some way. He just couldn't put his finger on it though.

'_I'll have to think about this later,'_ he thought. "So Naruto-san, what exactly was that place called?"

Naruto looked incredulously at the man.

"You mean you don't know what Konoha is? Didn't you just go into the village?" Naruto asked, sitting up. "I mean it's probably just right outside this cave if you go look out..."

"Hate to break it to you kid," the man said, "but you know that whole flashy light show you saw when you bumped into me? We aren't in your Konoha place anymore."

"So where are we?"

"A different world," the man said simply.

"Ano, a different world?" Naruto looked questioningly.

"Yeah, a different world, you know. A place without ninjas, large hidden villages, stuff like that. Basically, we are in a completely different place, far, far away from Konoha. Don't worry though, Naruto, I'll be here to protect you for a while. The name's Nagi Springfield," pointing to himself with his thumb and a wink.

Naruto giggled a bit and asked the most important question on his mind at the moment.

"Ano, where's the bathroom?"

Nagi, horrified at the thought of helping him with his business, pointed to a corner of the cave. Luckily for him, Naruto knew what he was doing, for the most part at least. When Naruto got back, he asked the next important question.

"Can you take me back home?"

Nagi smiled at this and said, "I'll try, let's clean up around here and we'll use that spell again."

Naruto looked questioningly at the last words, "Spell? You mean like magic?"

Nagi realized his blunder in speaking about magic to a complete stranger. He figured, however, that Naruto was merely a kid and it wouldn't hurt to explain himself. So he replied, "Yeah, magic. Just not the rabbits out of hats kind of thing."

"Rabbits out of hats?"

"Oh yeah, you come from a different world, you probably wouldn't get it."

At the words _different world_, Naruto felt tears start to come out of his eyes again. Nagi saw this and immediately said, "Hey, no crying. I told you I'll protect you and bring you home."

The young Naruto smiled and nodded quickly. The two of them gathered Nagi's belongings and stuffed them back into the backpack. Naruto quickly rolled up the sleeping bag he slept in while Nagi put everything else away neatly into his backpack, well as neatly as a guy could do it. In the end, the backpack was once again bursting. They decided to let the candle burning, thinking one candle wouldn't make much of a difference.

With that, Naruto grabbed Nagi's hand as he held up his staff, chanting in the foreign language once again. This time Naruto paid attention to every detail of this magic Nagi had spoken about. A magic circle quickly lit up beneath them, a hexagram was easily visible and some runes or something similar surrounded it. It glowed yellow and the light began to shine even brighter, eventually engulfing the duo.

However, a problem arose as the light died down and they were still in the same dark cave, lit by the lone candle in the middle.

"Ano, what happened Nagi-san?" Naruto looked questioningly.

"Well Naruto, when I came to Konoha, it was by accident. It was supposed to take me somewhere else, but I probably messed up in the incantation somewhere. And so, I don't think I would be able to duplicate it any time soon. It's one thing to transport to someplace that you know using magic, it's another thing to go somewhere completely foreign, unless you know the correct incantation. Unless we find a portal or figure out the right words to take us there, you won't be able to go home," Nagi explained in a matter-of-fact tone.

"So that means, we're stuck here?" Naruto asked, tears threatening to fall.

And with that, Naruto felt himself fall apart. He officially had no one to care for him, no more Teuchi jii-san, Ayame nee-san, Hokage jii-san, no more ramen, no more forests, no more dream. Salty water rushed out of his eyes in torrents as he started bawling.

"Whoa Naruto, calm down!" the red-head said trying his best to calm him down.

Unsure of what to do, the mysterious man pulled Naruto into a warm hug, albeit awkwardly, and patted his back as soothingly as he could. Minutes passed as Naruto's sobs slowly started to die down to small hiccups. The man pulled away and wiped off the remaining tears and confidently looked in Naruto's eyes.

Nagi quickly recognized his mistake and said, "No, of course not. It'll be fine. It just seems like you won't be able to return home for a while until I can find a way back."

"How long will it take?" Naruto sniffled.

"I don't know, it could take a day, it can be a month, it can be years."

"Years?" Naruto whimpered, "I can't go home for years?"

Nagi realized something very important, what about Naruto's family? If Naruto was here, then his parents would be out searching frantically for him, and that would mean the responsibility would be on him to find some way to take him home. If he didn't, some people would be very sad, and out for his head too. Nagi had planned to take him home to England and let him stay there until he could find some way to transport Naruto back home, but if his family was looking for him, he'd have to take Naruto with him to help with finding the correct village. Konoha was distinct, but he had a feeling it would take a lot longer to find the right place without Naruto pointing it out.

"It'll be alright Naruto, it'll be fine. I'll find a way to take you home to your parents and friends soon, I swear it," Nagi said.

Naruto wiped his tears and said, "I don't have any parents."

After hearing this, Nagi had an idea. Something that would hopefully help Naruto grow happier and maybe more skilled, utilizing all the potential he had.

"Naruto," he said kindly, "How would you like to come live with my family for a bit? I won't be able to be there, but I can guarantee that you'll have family and friends to care for."

With a glimmer of hope, Naruto asked, "Really? Would you really take me in? Other adults always avoid me and give me mean stares. Would you really let me be a part of your family?"

After seeing Naruto's hopeful eyes, Nagi couldn't help it. "Of course I will. You can stay with my family for a while. I'll even see if you can learn a little bit of magic. The hard stuff will have to come later, though. The thing is, you would have to leave your friends in Konoha behind, and it would probably be awhile, if ever, before you return."

While he would definitely miss the few friends he had back in Konoha, he knew that the chance to have a real, loving family was too good to pass up. Naruto, with a determined face, hugged Nagi and said, "Arigatou."

* * *

With that, they teleported away from the cave and into Naruto's future.

As the light disappeared, Naruto found a large wooden cabin. All was quiet in the expansive room as a young lady, with blonde hair, calm, aqua eyes, and a kind demeanor, silently rocked a little baby to sleep. The lady looked at Nagi and a moment of silent communication and understanding occurred as she simply nodded. Nagi took Naruto by the hand and led him outside.

"That lady, Naruto, is your new sister. Her name is Nekane Springfield. And that little boy there will be your new little brother. You can call him Negi. Unfortunately, I won't be able to take care of you anymore, but I promise you that Nekane, and all the villagers around here, will treat you like family."

"But where will you be going?" Naruto asked.

"I have business to take care of. I'm going to count on you to take care of your two new family members okay? Be brave and strong, grow up to be a fine young man, you got that Naruto?"

Naruto nodded and with a salute said, "Yes sir."

Nagi chuckled at the young boy's vigor and whispered to Naruto, "Now I promised you I would teach you magic. And so I will."

The magician took out his trusty notebook, containing all his notes on magic and spells over the years, along with his staff. He chanted in that mysterious language once again, and the book duplicated itself. It was an exact copy of the original, complete with the little tear at the corner of the black book. Then, Nagi took out all the scrolls he had received from Konoha, realizing that it would benefit Naruto to learn from his own home as well. Finally, with a small flourish, he took out a small wooden stick. Yet upon closer inspection, it was a finely crafted stick, ornamented with runes and magic symbols along its edge. The stick was by no means straight, but on one end, a distinct curve showed where to grasp it and on the other end, a point to know where to direct it.

"I have three gifts for you Naruto. One is a copy of my book, detailing much of the magic and theory behind it. I was never one for memorization or details, but whatever I needed to know about magic, I probably put in this book. You can study and learn basic magic from it, and maybe a few nifty tricks too. The next thing is a bunch of scrolls I bought from your homeland Konoha. I think it would be nice for you to have something to remember it by, and maybe it contains some important stuff too. Finally, I'm going to give you this spare wand to practice magic with. Of course you won't always need it to cast spells, but it'll help in the beginning for sure."

"Wow, thank you so much Nagi-sama," Naruto said, showing surprising respect that he almost never showed anyone.

"Hey kid, what's with this –sama stuff? A promise is a promise. Anyway, I'm expecting a lot of great things from you, so don't disappoint me, okay?" Nagi said with a grin.

"Hai!"

"Good kid," Nagi mumbled as he ruffled the young boy's hair, "Now be good to your family and do well. I have to talk to Nekane-chan for a bit and then I'll have to go. So this is good-bye for now Naruto."

Naruto felt silent tears falling down once again, but with bittersweet resolve, he hugged the man who had given him a chance at a new life with happiness. Nagi returned it for a minute, and then let go, telling Naruto to go inside and rest.

Naruto tugged at the hem of Nagi's shirt, "Ano, Nagi-san. Can you tell Nekane-san to teach me how to read and write?"

Nagi's eyes widened at that, expecting Naruto to at least understand Japanese. But he nodded nevertheless, remembering to tell Nekane to teach Naruto both English and Japanese for his benefit and so he could actually learn.

With that, Naruto took to the spare bed, forgetting who it actually could belong to, and drifted to sleep, dreaming about his new future here. Yet in the back of his mind, he knew that Konoha would still play a role in his life, but for now, he was content with his new family.

AN: I'm sorry, but I don't know exactly what Nekane Springfield's age is, but she looked quite old, if anything at least, she's probably older than Naruto is currently and so she'll be as such in my story. And yes, Naruto will learn and be pretty good at magic, since he seems to pick things up pretty quickly with an guide to teach him. There will be a time skip, actually two, and the chapters will get longer as soon as this exposition stuff gets out of the way. Oh well, exposition's always important anyway. If you guys notice anything or want to give any recommendations, feel free to drop me a review or message. Oh, and if you notice any typos, please tell me so I can fix them.

Yes, Konoha will be important, but much later. Thanks for the hits and reviews everyone! Sorry if Naruto seems to cry a lot, but I think a five year old would cry if he didn't know where he was, so I just made him like that.


	3. Chapter 2

"Naruto nii-san, wake up!"

Naruto groggily rubbed his eyes as his boisterous little brother woke him up. It was routine that had gone on for about four years now. The first two years, Nekane would come over and wake Naruto up after checking on little Negi, and cook him breakfast. Naruto, careful to pay attention, picked up some basic cooking skills for later. After the delicious meal of eggs and bacons, Nekane would let Negi out of his crib to play in the room as she taught Naruto basic reading, writing, and speaking in English and Japanese. Then, they would work together to decipher both Nagi's notebook and the scrolls he left Naruto. The scrolls were more or less basic ninja skills and basic Konoha history, with tricks for chakra control, academy level taijutsu, and various common jutsu. However, Naruto treasured these as they were the only things left he had from Konoha.

After dinner, he would take a few hours to start learning what they had deciphered. Unfortunately, when it came to this, Naruto was practically on his own when learning ninja skills or magic. Taking what he and Nekane talked about in the afternoon, he would practice relentlessly until Nekane called him back in to wash up and sleep. While it would take him a long time to master some things while some were impossible, like _Bunshin no Jutsu_, he still managed to pick up the taijutsu, some basic jutsu like _Kawarimi_, and later on, basic chakra control. While he still couldn't walk on water like the scroll had said for intermediate training, he could at least climb a few short trees while building endurance through basic training like jogging and push ups. While far from muscular at the moment, Naruto could easily handle himself in a small fist fight.

His favorite thing to do, by far, however, was learn magic. Ever since seeing Nagi use the magic portal and how flashy it was, Naruto knew he wanted to be able to do similar things. While at first it seemed impossible to do even the simplest of spells, like _Practe Bigi Nar Vente_, Naruto refused to be denied. Even though Nekane told Naruto to go to school or wait until he could, Naruto refused to listen, steeling his resolve to learn magic right away. Exasperated, Nekane could do little except help teach Naruto how to say and understand some of the Latin phrases that she could also understand. Despite his Latin struggles, he still managed to cast the beginner spell and learned other spells slowly. The affinity and desire to learn magic drove him to learn as much as he could and overcome any difficulty, however, even going as far as asking some elders for help with Latin when Nekane was baffled. His favorite was the wind spells though. Naruto loved feeling the calming breeze of wind magic around him along with how powerful it could become. Soon enough, he picked up enough as a basic mage in other elements as well and continued to grow.

On weekends, he would take a break under Nekane's insistence and help around the village at various shops or simple manual labor while Nekane took Negi out to explore. Naruto refused to take any payment, however, stating that living here with the villagers was good enough. It was a complete change from Konoha. Here, in the mountains near London, Naruto felt at home. People would wave at him with a smile or ask about his day. Small, simple things like this made him feel happy, feel recognized among others.

When Negi was two years old, he had started the tradition of waking his older brother up. Afterwards, Naruto took charge and would try to cook breakfast for the two of them. Nekane had gone off to Wales to study magic, but she would occasionally come by and stay with them once in a while. Negi would usually go out to playdates with his new friend Anya, a fiery red-headed girl a year older than Negi while Naruto would continue to go through Nagi's notebook and the scrolls. He learned more and more spells of Nagi's little notebook, and while some incantations were easy to memorize, sometimes he had to look them up just as Nagi had in using his teleportation spell. Some words he still had trouble with, like the words _Sagitta Magica_. Luckily, for his sixth birthday, before Nekane left, she gave him a present of a Latin dictionary, containing definitions and basic grammar, and after some practice and careful reading, he would understand it. Another thing he could not seem to do was casting spell without a wand. However, according to Nagi's notebook, it took him a few years to master that technique. Luckily, the scrolls were much easier to decipher and understand, and Naruto found himself studying some odd jutsus like Doton: Shinjuu Zanshu no Jutsu which let him drag other objects or people down into the ground up to their necks and Fuuton: Daitoppa, which created a huge gust of wind.

Yet, as busy as Naruto was training and helping out the villagers, none gave him more trouble than his little brother Negi. When he turned to, Negi seemed to hold onto this belief that Nagi would come back to save Negi if he would get in trouble, and so Negi would always put himself in precarious situations, from drowning in a river or being chased by a bunch of village dogs. Whenever this happened, either Nekane or Naruto would have to go save him and care for him until he got better.

Then, Anya gave Negi a basic magic wand to use. Naruto would never forget that day…

* * *

"_Ano, Anya-san, what is this?"_ _a young three year-old Negi asked._

"_It's a practice wand. If you wanna be like your dad, you better practice magic. Aren't you going to school next year?" Anya said with a smirk.  
_

"_But Naruto nii-san doesn't go to school, and he's good at magic."_

"_Well Naruto nii-san is a different case. He said that he'll take a class eventually, but he wants to stay with you and Nekane nee-chan because of a promise or something like that. Truth be told, he seems to be learning fine without it."_

"_Wow, Naruto nii-san is awesome. Anya-san, will you help me learn magic?" Negi asked, hopeful._

"_Well I suppose I could give you a few pointers here and there, since nii-san seems busy all the time…"_

_With that Negi ran up to Anya and gave her a bone-crushing hug._

"_Thank you Anya nee-san!"_

_Anya blushed at that and yelled out, "Alright already Negi, I get it. You can't live without me."_

_All Negi could do was grin. He was going to learn magic._

_

* * *

_That day created a deadly combination of two mischievous magic users. While they were learning some magic, Negi and Anya caused a lot of trouble, with Anya's wild nature and Negi's constant desire to cause trouble to call upon Thousand Master Nagi-san. Negi was quite a troublesome four year-old child, and Anya's five year-old spirit did not help much either. Occasionally on weekends, when Naruto wasn't out helping villagers, he would take care of them, sometimes showing them a basic magic spell to keep them amused and from burning down a cabin or two.

This particular morning however, Naruto noticed Negi being quite lively. Negi, energetic as ever, told Naruto he would go fishing because Nekane was coming back from Magic school and quickly ran off. Naruto sleepily nodded and walked like a mindless drone into the bathroom to perform his morning duties.

A few minutes later, Nekane knocked on the door loudly and Naruto, with toothbrush still in his mouth, ran out to greet her.

"Welcumf beck!" Naruto said, forgetting the foam in his mouth.

Nekane giggled, taking the toothbrush lodged in his mouth, "I'm glad to see you're still lively in the morning. Where's Negi?"

Naruto quickly guided Nekane to the dining table and said, "He went out to catch you some fish as a welcome back present."

"Aw, what a good child. Have you been treating him well?"

"Of course I have nee-san! He's even picking up a little bit more magic too! Anyway, could you wait here while I go take a shower?"

"Oh, that's great. Do you want me to wash your back like old times Naruto?" Nekane said with a completely straight face.

Naruto blushed at that and whined, "Nee-san! I'm not that young anymore! Go cuddle with Negi when he gets back or something."

With that he walked off and took a bath. When he got back, he was dressed in a bright orange cloak, refusing to part with his favorite color, and wore a loose-fitting black t-shirt and a pair of gray jeans. Nekane was sitting at the table still, mildly humming an old English tune. Over the years, Naruto had mellowed out a bit, while still loud and embarrassing at times, he found himself pranking people less as they had accepted him like family. Of course, he had tried once, much to the chagrin of Nekane. As soon as she figured out the source of the problem, she immediately scolded Naruto sternly, effectively scaring him enough to curb his pranking urge. Nekane herself was still the same. The same kind sister to Naruto and Negi, except she became more knowledgeable in terms of magic and such.

Catching up on old times, they continued to chat for a while, waiting for Negi's promised fish to be caught.

"Bah, Negi sure is slow when it comes to fishing," Naruto grumbled along with his stomach.

"Oh Naruto, don't be so harsh on him. You're only five years older and I doubt you could do that much better. Without magic mind you," Nekane added, seeing his mouth open in protest.

Naruto once again grumbled at that. All of a sudden, a loud thud resounded in the village.

"What was that?" Nekane asked.

"Whatever it was, it can't be good."

Quickly grabbing his wand and Nekane's hand, Naruto rushed outside. What he saw horrified him. The village, the one that had taken him in for the past four years and treated him like family, was surrounded by red tongues of flame its crackling noise filled the air. The small cabins were falling apart as flames claimed the sides and roof until nothing was left. Ash floated down from the skies like a dark, snowy day as an ominous cloud of smoke covered the land. It seemed as if hell came down on the Earth and entered into the village.

A resounding roar permeated the air. Naruto and Nekane turned towards the source and gasped. An army marched towards the village, spreading chaos wherever they stepped. At the helm was a large demon, with long tusks and horns protruding out of its head. From his back grew large, folded-up wings. Markings lit up on his skin as he defiantly stared at the defending elders fighting back with magic. Along with this demon came other demons and monsters, like a sinisterly, grinning slime and a bat-like creature.

Right in the middle of the elders and the demons stood Negi, face pale with shock. Naruto wanted to yell at Negi to get out of the way, but for some reason his voice stopped. The large fist of the demon rapidly approached Negi, with no one to protect him. Naruto stood in fear for his younger brother, tears starting to spring out.

In a large flash of light, a red-headed man appeared in black and a beige trench coat, holding the fist back with one hand while holding onto a familiar staff in the other. Negi's face looked on in awe as the man quickly chanted _"Κενότητος ἀστράπσατω δὲ τεμέτω! Δίος τύκος!"_ (Come forth from the void, O Thunder, and cut down my enemy! Axe of Lightning!).

Lightning sprung from around him and struck the demon. With a swift punch and kick to the surrounding demons, he immediately jumped back. Pulling back his fist, he muttered his spell, _"Veniant Spiritus Aeriales Fulgurientes! Cum Fulguratione Flet Tempestas Austrina! Jovis Tempestas Fulguriens!" _(Come, Spirits of Air and Lightning! Southern Storm Which Blows with Lightning! Jupiter's Storm of Thunder!).

With a loud roar, lightning erupted from his fist and immediately decimated all the demons in front of him, the golden beam of lightning continuing on past the village and blowing everything away.

Meanwhile, Naruto, after seeing his brother safe, quickly acted to protect his fellow villagers. Finding the nearest demon attacking the old ojii-sans, Naruto quickly pointed his wand at it.

He yelled, _"Magicus Defendo et Spes. __Undecim Spiritus Lucis! Sagitta Magica, Series Lucis__!"_

Immediately, eleven arrows created by destructive light pierced the demon as it fell with a loud thud. Some of the old men, looked back with wide eyes to see the young Naruto casting such a spell. Everyone knew Naruto had been training in magic, but few knew Naruto could successfully cast spells like _Sagitta Magica_ with such ease. Although the spell itself was basic in nature, to cast it with such power at his age was quite rare. Stan jii-san merely nodded at Naruto, unsurprised at his growth, and continued on to the next demon.

Nekane yelled out to Naruto against the roar of the fire, "Watch out Naruto! The demons can turn you to stone if you're not careful!"

Naruto quickly nodded and left with Nekane to fight off the remaining hordes of demons, which still continued to exist despite all that Nagi had destroyed with Jupiter's Storm of Thunder. While Nekane focused on precise magic attacks to defend the villagers and heal who she could, Naruto took each demon on, one by one, constantly using his _Sagitta Magica_ spells. While he could not accomplish mass destruction like Nagi, demons like this he could handle.

Minutes felt like days as Naruto and Nekane blazed forward, trying to save as many of the villagers as they could from the fate of petrification. Battered and exhausted, Nekane tripped and fell on the ground. Naruto, quickly stopping to help Nekane up, saw demons starting to congregate around them. With a small grunt, stood up straight and with his wand hand moving, yelled, _"__Magicus Defendo et Spes. __Vertatur Tempestas Veris! Nobis Protectionem Aerialem! Flans Paries Venti Vertentis!"_

A powerful tornado rose around the two of them and pushed all of the demons away from the tired duo. While the demons were far from destroyed, they were forced away enough for Naruto to quickly _shunshin_ the two of them away from the center.

"Naruto, how do you have so much endurance? I'm tired from all that casting!" she said as she started to stand up.

With a small grin, he said, "Well all that physical training must have helped. Who knew those scrolls could be so useful in terms of magic too."

The both of them nodded and then charged forward once again, only to see Negi face to face with another demon, light pouring out of its mouth as it charged up a beam to petrify the scared child. With unnatural speed, Nekane recovered from her exhaustion and rushed in front of Negi with the desire to protect her little adopted brother. To her right stood Stan jii-san, holding out his staff and palm. Naruto immediately fired another volley of _Sagitta Magica: Lucis _at the demon, but it was too late.

Stan jii-san's hand had started turning from wrinkled, pale skin to cold, gray stone. Nekane nee-san's feet and legs had similarly changed to stone, with no intent on stopping. With a loud crack, Nekane's feet and part of her legs broke off and she immediately fainted. Stan jii-san immediately looked at Naruto and nodded once more, and began to chant. Naruto, backing up Stan jii-san by trying to stop the demon, yelled out, _"Magicus Defendo et Spes. Vertatur Tempestas Aestiva, Illis Carcarem Circumvertentem! Flans Carcer Venti Vertentis!"  
_

Similar to the tornado that had protected Naruto and Nekane earlier, one completely surrounded the demon, sealing his movement. However, Naruto struggled to keep it up as the demon continued to pound his way through the howling winds. Seeing this Stan jii-san quickly completed his spell, _"Hexagramma et Pentagramma, Malos Spiritus Sigillent! Lagena Signatoria!" _(Let the Hexagram and Pentagram Seal the Evil Spirit! Sealing Bottle!) just as Naruto released the spell from exhaustion.

A bottle with a star appeared in midair and a magic circle with a hexagram surrounded it. The demon spiraled into the bottle until nothing was left and with a loud pop, the opening was sealed with a cork. Stan jii-san beckoned towards the four year-old Negi and checked him over, ignoring the stone quickly covering his body.

"Negi, are you okay?"

"Stan ojii-san!"

"I don't know what could have caused this, but it must have been a powerful spellcaster who could summon so many powerful lesser demons. The village should have been able to withstand this," Stan mused with a loud cough.

"Ojii-san!"

"I've done what I promised to your annoying dead father. Now go find a healer to save your sister, the spell cast on me was too strong, but she can be saved. You must stay safe…"

After catching his breath, he quickly ran towards Stan.

"Naruto. I'm proud of you. You have the makings of a great mage. Protect those dear to you, and don't feel too bad for us old people. You can grow and become a wonderful person, promise me you'll continue to work hard to protect your loved ones."

Tears streaming down his eyes, Naruto nodded, knowing there was no way to save Stan jii-san. Stan, seeing this, nodded slightly as his eyes glazed over in stone and life left him. Naruto, keeping a moment of silence out of respect for the old man, stood there, grief at the verge of overtaking them. He remained strong for his brother, however.

A hooded man appeared before them as Negi started crying out for Nekane, with a large staff in one hand. He looked towards the destruction of the village and sighed.

"It looks like I was too late."

Negi stood defiantly with his little star wand in his hand, poised to protect his sister. Naruto, knowing who the man was, merely stayed by Nekane's side, still stunned by the damage done by the rampaging demons.

Nagi looked at this and said, "So you're Negi. You've grown a bit haven't you? Protecting your big sister like that."

Nagi leaned forward and ruffled the young boy's hair.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there quick enough. Here, take this staff."

Negi nearly toppled over holding onto the staff. If Naruto didn't realize the importance of the situation, he would've laughed at his little brother's lack of strength.

Negi looked up hesitantly, "Are you… father?"

Nagi simply stood back up, "Nekane will be fine. She'll need some time to heal though."

Noticing Naruto, he walked towards the growing blonde.

"Naruto, I see you've been growing," said Nagi simply.

Naruto, not trusting his voice any longer, nodded.

Nagi chuckled a little at this, and ruffled Naruto's hair like he had done with Negi. However, Naruto gave no response. Noticing this, he realized exactly how important this village had meant to Naruto. Going to his knees, Nagi placed both hands on Naruto's shoulders.

"Naruto, look at me. This isn't your fault. You're only an nine year-old child and you couldn't have saved everyone. I saw you out there, using spells and protecting others like a professional. In a few years, you could be a full-blown, powerful mage, but you have to know that you can't save everyone. But you can always try your best to protect them, and that's what you did."

_Protect._ That word resounded clearly in Naruto's mind. In his time in Konoha, he had no one to protect but himself, whether it be from angry ninjas to the heated glares of the villagers. But when he came to Europe, he listened to what Nagi had said, trying his best to protect his sister and little brother. But he had failed at that. Negi almost died and Nekane had lost her legs. The rest of the villagers, those that he cared about and worked with, along with his home, had been destroyed. Yet, here was Nagi, saying he had tried his best, when his best was not good enough. Could he really bring himself to place others on the line and protect his loved ones through what magic and chakra he had?

Naruto looked up at Nagi's eyes and saw them looking back at Naruto with care. Seeing this, Naruto promised himself that he would grow up to be like Nagi, using his own power to protect his friends and family, come demon or god, so long as he drew breath.

Naruto nodded at Nagi, and set his lips in a determined smile, despite the streaks of tears on his face.

"Good. Now Naruto, things will start to get hectic from here. When I leave, I want you to take Negi and Nekane, along with whatever villagers are left, and take them to Wales. Negi needs some formal training in magic, and there's a good magic school there that can provide that. I'm leaving this notebook with you. This notebook has a few new things you can learn after you finish with the old notebook I gave you. It'll require some intense training so I hope you're up for it."

Naruto understood this, and finally croaked out some words, "Nagi-san, you can count on me."

"Alright, Naruto. I'm proud of you for growing up like this. Rest assured I'll find a way to get you back home too…"

"No, Nagi-san, you don't have to," Naruto said, with a stronger tone.

"What?" Nagi looked, baffled.

"While Konoha will always be my home, but I think I'll stay here with my family and friends. When the time comes for me to need to come back, then I will, but until then, I'll happily grow and live here for a while."

Nagi nodded in understanding. Naruto truly had grown up in the past four years, in more ways than one. With one more ruffle of Naruto's hair, Nagi went to Negi.

"I know I don't have any right to say this, but I'm proud as your father Negi. I know you'll grow up to do some amazing things. Just keep on showing that determination," Nagi said as he started floating and sparks of light began to gather around him.

"Grow well and be happy, Negi, Naruto."

In a big flash Nagi disappeared into the darkness.

AN: Well, finally, I think that was my first action scene I've ever written. I should really start writing stuff freely like this. It's a nice change instead of essays for AP classes. Again, if you have any recommendations, ideas, opinions, feel free to drop me a review/message. Also, concerning the pairings for the story, I'm already leaning towards something but first I need to decide between harem or not. I'll probably decide on my own, but if you have any arguments for either, go ahead and feel free to drop me a message. I enjoy reading reader's opinions as well.

At this time, Negi is four years old while Naruto is nine (barring flashbacks)

Also, the reason why Naruto repeats _Magicus Defendo et Spes_ is because it is his spell key, and with him not being a full, powerful mage, he has to repeat it constantly. Nagi, however, doesn't need to repeat it constantly because he is an advanced mage.

Oh, and to answer some questions…

I don't actually remember exactly when Naruto started pranking. All I remember was that he pranked because of prejudice and lack of attention from the villagers. So I assume he probably started pranking as soon as he could walk. While I'm probably wrong, it'll be like that in the story. Pranking won't really play much of a role anymore, since he's found somewhere that's accepted will graduate. But that's all I'm going to say. And no, he won't turn into an ermine, although that would be a funny plot twist. Something to file away for later then.

At least according the plot line in my head, Konoha will play a part, but this will be after a few story arcs and whatnot. As for what techniques he has currently in terms of jutsu, very limited. He has very basic things, as in academy level things. Like replacements, transformations, shunshin, and three or so very basic elemental jutsu. Beyond that, nothing else. Unfortunately, that means he also doesn't have kage bunshin. I'll have to figure something out when it comes to the Konoha arc then. There's ample amounts of time till that comes though.

Oh, in case you didn't notice, I had to change Naruto's age to 5, because I noticed a few hours after I published the prologue, that I didn't think a 4 year old could do that much. While being five doesn't help much, it'll make it a tad bit more credible at least, while still working in the context of the story. I probably should have mentioned that in the previous chapter, but I forgot I put it in until a kind reviewer pointed it out to me.

I'd like to say thanks to these questions to everyone else who reviewed. Keep it coming because it challenges me to think about the plot and develop it more. And your words of encouragement help me keep the chapters coming.

As a side note, I was wondering if someone could answer my question. Is it just me, or does Nekane already have her legs back when Negi graduates. I would rather not make a mistake in my writing should the other prove true, but from looking at the first chapter, she was walking with Negi and Anya at his graduation. Any confirmation on this would be appreciated. Also, help in getting some of the spells better would help too. Should I keep using incantations or start shortening them?

Bah, I dislike writing long author's notes, but I ramble.


	4. Chapter 3

As Nagi suggested, Naruto took Negi, Nekane, and Anya over to Wales in a small village filled with magicians as soon as they were packed up. It was quite a change of pace from the cabins of London. They were met with a large building, furnished with pillars and intricate designs, similar to a gothic cathedral. Naruto, carrying Nekane like a new bride, followed her directions to the furnished headmaster's office. A tan old man with long white hair and a similarly long beard, tinted with a hint of pink immediately stood to greet them. Naruto gingerly placed Nekane on the chair and the two of them discussed the situation in frantic whispers and short nods.

It was decided that the four of them would live together in a house nearby the school and all of them would be enrolled. Nekane would be taking care of Negi, Anya, and Naruto while recovering, but Negi and Anya would immediately start taking classes as new students. Naruto on the other hand, being older than the two children and having quite a bit more experience, would be given a placement test to determine where he would go. While normally the news of professional training would excite the three of them, they seemed unnaturally subdued due to prior events.

The headmaster, seeing everything was resolved and that they should get their rest, called in a nurse from the infirmary to get a wheelchair. Naruto helped Nekane into the wheelchair, and along with Negi and Anya, walked to their new house. It was more modern-looking than their cabin, made of clay bricks with a dull, gray chimney puffing out small amounts of smoke.

Opening the door to their new house, they were met with a young maid, no older than Nekane.

"Oh, you must be Nekane! And these people must be your family!" she said cheerfully.

Nekane merely nodded in acknowledgment. The maid, seeing their somber mood, quickly said her goodbyes and told them to contact the school should the need anything. Everyone going to their respective rooms, they immediately laid down on their beds and took a much needed nap.

As the first year passed, life seemed to return to a slight normalcy. Negi and Anya quickly took to their new lessons at the magic academy. Negi, no longer wanting to cause trouble after the traumatic events, dedicated himself to studying magic every day. Even when Anya started asking Negi to go and play, Negi would usually wave her off to read his books unless it was a weekend, but even so, only after he had read a few pages from his textbook. Naruto himself had taken their diagnostic test, consisting of a practical part and a theory part. The practical part was easy, using basic spells called out by the instructor and then showing them used on certain targets. Compared to the battlefield Naruto had faced earlier, that was nothing. The professors were almost ready to allow Naruto to graduate that year. However, when it came to theory, Naruto knew only as much as Nagi had written in the notebook along with a few pointers from the elders. From the lack of formal training, Naruto could not appreciate the finer points of theory, and ultimately barely met the expectations of magical knowledge at the age of seven. This was quite a setback considering he was already nine years old. And so Naruto ended up being placed two years before graduating so he could at least get some formal theory training. However, Naruto was not duly focused on theory, and in fact, tended to do his own things during the class, listening only when it was important.

* * *

_Sitting in class, Naruto was drawing runes along the edge of his paper instead of taking the necessary notes. He was absolutely bored. The lessons on advanced magic he had already learned in Nagi's notebook and through personal experience. Yet here he was, sitting in class and listening to the droning voice of the elderly professor._

"_Naruto. What are you doing?" asked a young girl sitting next to him._

"_I'm bored, so I'm practicing my rune drawing."_

"_Uzumaki! Breese! What are you two doing?"_

"_Nothing ma'am!" they chimed together._

_With a sigh, the professor shook her head as Naruto continued to scribble in the margins of his paper. Uzumaki was a good kid, practically a genius when it came to magic, but he failed to apply to himself in class, amusing himself with occasional class disruptions or losing himself in his own world. It was almost as if he couldn't apply himself. He was an enigma in himself. He barely passed his theory classes, showing understanding of the subject, yet he could not adequately describe it. What Uzumaki did succeed in however, was in proving actions speak louder than words. He easily aced every practical and showed complete mastery of the theory he had failed to described earlier, showing advanced techniques and comprehension of the topic._

_Naruto glanced up to see as the professor new written on the board and quickly copied it down before going back to his rune drawing._

"_...and that is one example of how you can compound support magic to complete an overall task. Okay class, we're going outside to practice this with your Sagitta Magica skills. Try using them in tandem with a spell to trap the dummy, pretending it can move."_

_The class filed outside to a large field containing a lone dummy. One by one, each student did some odd combination that would always mess up some way or another. One tried using pillars of light to trap the dummy, but he ended up blinding himself and missed with his water Sagitta Magica, sending arrows towards a little squirrel on a tree. A small thud was heard as half of the girls rushed to save the little critter. Another student used an artifact which attempted to use the doll's shadow to trap it. Instead, she managed to create a small fire behind the doll which was quickly put out with magical fire extinguishers._

_The professor grumbled at all the work she had to do._

'_Hah, they said all I had to do was draw stuff on a board and teach the kids. They didn't tell me I had to give CPR to a squirrel or put out fires,' she grumbled as she shuddered at the thought of the squirrel._

_Naruto walked towards the doll with his oddly-shaped wand in hand. In quick succession, he mumbled an onslaught of spells._

"_Magicus defendo et spes. Ex Somno Exsistat Exurens Salamandra Inimicum Involvat Igne! Captus Flammeus! Undecim spiritus aeriales, vinculum facti inimicum captent! Sagitta Magica, Aer Capturae! __Undetriginta Spiritus Lucis! Sagitta Magica, Series Lucis!__"_

_Quickly, a small, powerful cylinder of flame surrounded the dummy while eleven arrows of wind bound the doll down. Finally, fifty-three arrows of light pierced the dummy in quick succession and exploded. While the long incantation would be impractical in an actual battle situation, it made quick work of the dummy, while fulfilling the requirements of the assignment. Naruto effectively trapped the dummy in magic and then pierced it with Sagitta Magica. The old professor marveled at Naruto's technique, although she thought he could have done without the destruction of the dummy. Yet he failed to correctly answer the question concerning the importance of compounding magic, making it seem like Naruto acted on instinct when it came to using magic._

_Looking outside his window, the aged headmaster looked on in interest. Naruto displayed a completely different level of mastery when it came to practicals. The child reminded the headmaster of himself in his heyday. _

_Pulling out Naruto's file, the old man clicked his tongue, 'If only his theory knowledge could reach the same levels. However, with a little bit more experience...'_

* * *

Two years passed by quickly and Negi, Anya, and Naruto quickly continued studying. Despite growing up together and helping each other, Naruto and Negi were quite different. Negi was quite different from his brother immediately taking to all theory and doing average on his practicals. He displayed a mastery of knowledge despite his young age, yet lacked the experience. Anya, on the other hand, grew up to be average in both areas, showing a bit more experience practically but less knowledge in general compared to Negi. It was to be expected really, as Anya was a bit more of a free spirit. Nekane eventually came back to school and ironically, was in the same class as Naruto. She, however, was above average at everything she did. Despite this, her forte was healing magic, knowing incantations and techniques for healing that should not be possible at her age. Whenever Nekane was asked about this interest, she would only smile politely and shake her head. Seeing all the injured people in the village and all the damage that occurred, Nekane decided on helping out in any way she can through healing others.

Naruto, on the other hand, grew in unexpected ways. Despite his deficiency in theory, Naruto managed to pull a few unexpected feats as his knowledge continued to expand. While also learning spells advanced for his age, Naruto had a knack for discovering creative uses during practical exams. For one thing, he managed to take _Venti Vertentis_, his tornado barrier spell, to a new level. While the tornado was usually a set distance away from the center and never changed in diameter, Naruto manipulated so that it could push out slightly, meaning he no longer had to wait for his enemies to approach him. Instead, Naruto could easily expand the barrier to push back others even if they were farther away. Also, he had begun to cast spells without his wand, although his magical power was severely strained when doing so, limiting the strength of his spells. Yet completely determined, Naruto trained hard both physically and magically to increase his endurance and capabilities, especially after what happened that day...

* * *

_It was a momentous Sunday during the second year of their stay in Wales. The healers had finally found away to give Nekane legs once again through the use of magic and prosthetics and could safely complete the procedure. The drawbacks of prosthetics was how it could easily be detached and had no innervation with the brain. However, after years of study by professional healers at the school, they had found away to give the foot and leg slight interaction with the spinal column. While far from perfect and fully functional, it would be enough to allow Nekane to walk and run like normal after some rehabilitation. After the necessary preparations and precautions were taken, Nekane was admitted to the local hospital. Naruto had wanted to help, but was immediately denied for his status as a student as well as a person who only had limited knowledge in healing. Naruto, Negi, and Anya waited outside with the two young ones sitting on a long chair, eventually falling asleep leaning against each other for support. Naruto, for his part, paced constantly, muttering all the incantations he knew to calm his nerves. The surgery took hours and the necessary magic spells to even longer to be completed. Finally, the door creaked open as a young man garbed in blue walked out of the room, pulled off his face mask, and smiled tiredly with a nod._

_"The operation was a success, but it'll be a few more days until she'll be ready to move around," the doctor said._

_Naruto nodded with a relieved sigh while Negi and Anya, after waking up from the sound of the opening door, danced around singing, "Onee-san's okay~."_

_They came to visit every day, just to spend time with Nekane, whether by talking, doing homework, or cracking jokes. A week went by like that, content with knowing their sister was alive and well, with a chance at truly living life once again._

_The following Sunday, Naruto, Negi, and Anya, went to visit their sister once more, only to see the door open. Inside, Nekane was shakily holding onto a nurse's shoulder as she slowly stood up. Silently, they stood by, amazed at the spectacle. Noticing her siblings, she immediately let go of the nurse and started towards the trio, making three confident steps until she uttered a gasp and started falling forward._

_It was as if time completely froze. Nekane's mouth was in an o-shape as the gasp left her mouth, hands still by her side as her reflexes had not yet recovered from a week of bedrest. Her body angled forward as she rapidly approached the floor. Next to Nekane was the nurse, mouth open and eyes bulging out of their sockets, unsure of what to do in her state of surprise. Negi and Anya were desperately screaming out for their dear sister. Naruto stood, completely unsure of what he could do, and acted on impulse. He quickly raised his hand towards Nekane and screamed only one Japanese word._

_"Ukaide! (Float!)"_

_This word seemed to do nothing except make his hand glow faintly gold. Nekane continued on her trip to meet the ground, falling forward until, as she tightly shut her eyes in fear, gravity let go of its hold. Not feeling the impact of the white hospital floor, she opened her eyes. Her feet hovered above the floor as her body, mere centimeters above the floor, floated. The entire room grew silent for one, drawn out second, until finally, the nurse snapped out of her stupor and quickly lifted Nekane up from her position and back onto the bed. Nekane, Anya, and Negi stared wide-eyed at their brother as the glow started fading from his hand. Sweating profusely from exhaustion, Naruto gave a small, shaky chuckle and promptly blacked out, collapsing on the ground._

* * *

Vague incantations, unincantated spells, even magic without an actual support like a staff and wand was quite possible, but usually only for extremely advanced mages. However, Naruto had managed to pull off a spell without a proper incantation or wand. Whether it meant Naruto was an advanced mage or not was yet to be seen, but he was determined to master the technique. He discovered it was easier to use this kind of magic with spells he constantly used, like _Sagitta Magica._ However, the number and strength of the arrows was significantly less than what he could do when he actually chanted the spell. Building up magical strength by learning powerful spells and careful practice, he became moderately proficient at it for emergencies.

Soon enough, the day came for Nekane and Naruto to graduate. The sun shone brightly, and the birds chirped cheerfully. However, inside seven young mages stood at attention in front of the headmaster. The old man stood in behind an altar adorned with four faceless _Magister Magis_ made of stone. Pulling out a scroll, he began the ceremony.

"To these fine young magicians, I would like to extend a word of congratulations. After years of classes, homework, and practice, you are now ready to move on into the real world. Yet do not stop here, because your training has truly just begun."

Calling each individual one by one, the headmaster read out the seven names. He would hand out pink diplomas to each student, and then later, words would appear indicating what their next level of training entailed. It was an odd piece of magic, something not even the headmaster or staff could truly control.

"Springfield, Nekane!"

Nekane strode towards the altar, and with a bow, took the rolled paper from the headmaster's hand and shook it. She wore a large navy robe with a pointy navy hat. She smiled brightly as she turned around, and it grew wider as she saw Negi and Anya in the audience as well as hearing the following name.

"Uzumaki, Naruto!"

Naruto, with a large grin, used a _shunshin_ to disappear in a swirl of wind and reappear in front of the headmaster. Negi, Anya, and Nekane immediately thought the same thing. _Showoff_. However, the old man took it all in stride and handed Naruto his diploma. Naruto had garbed himself with his favorite color: orange. The one thing Nekane could never stop Naruto from doing was wearing the disgustingly bright color everyday. She did manage to find a compromise in forcing Naruto to wear other colors as well, but whether it was socks or underwear, Naruto had to wear something orange. However, this orange robe was not too bright, in fact, it bordered dark red, with the hat being the same color. They shook hands Naruto used _shunshin_ to get back in line. Nekane shook her head exasperatedly.

The president stood proudly and announced, "I present to you, this year's graduating class!"

* * *

Naruto and Nekane, still wearing their graduation robes and hats, immediately went to Negi and Anya.

"Congratulations Naruto nii-san! Congratulations Nekane nee-san!" the two children chorused.

Smiling, Naruto and Nekane waited eagerly for the next part of their training to appear on the paper. Nekane's appeared first. In bright pink handwriting, the words appeared as if someone wrote it one by one. The words _Healer in Wales_ appeared on the back of the diploma.

Nekane grinned as she said, "Yes! This is exactly what I wanted, to work with healers while still keeping an eye on you two kids."

Naruto smiled. Nekane had not changed much aside from her burning desire to help others, and she still mothered them like no other. Suddenly, his own diploma sparkled as electric blue handwriting appeared, showing the words _Apprentice in Wales._

"Apprentice? In what? I mean I'm glad I get to stay with you, but if I'm an apprentice to a sanitation worker or something, I am out of here," Naruto said, shaking his head.

The headmaster walked by as he said this and immediately recognized what Naruto was to do.

"Naruto Uzumaki. So you got the apprenticeship."

"Wait, what do you mean old man?"

_'Naruto never learned to respect his elders, but I suppose that's a part of his character,' _the headmaster thought with a smile.

"Anyway, Naruto. What I mean is that you will be an apprentice to a _Magister Magi_ here in Wales."

"Yes!" Naruto cheered triumphantly, "No toilet cleaning!"

Immediately, Nekane smacked her hand on her forehead, "Naruto! Please excuse my little brother headmaster, he knows he shouldn't be talking about things like this in front of you."

The headmaster waved her off, "Haha, Nekane, don't worry about it. Naruto should get comfortable if he's going to be my apprentice."

Naruto's eyes widened in surprise, "Your apprentice? But you haven't had an apprentice in twenty years!"

"Well now's a good as time as ever, right Naruto? I'm surprised you managed to pick up that fact in the first place, considering your theory scores. Still, I was impressed with your ingenuity and usage of magic and your determination. Hopefully, I'll be able to help you grow even further."

Naruto, speechless, nodded his head in thanks.

"Now, you have both have a week off before you begin your real training. I hope you make the best of it."

Saying their goodbyes, Naruto, Nekane, Anya, and Negi walked off into the new day with new opportunities.

* * *

Everyday became a routine for the makeshift family, even though they were all obviously growing up. In the morning, Naruto and Nekane would cook breakfast and make lunches for themselves along with Anya and Negi. They would always eat breakfast together before heading off. Anya and Negi would go to classes, Negi always eager to learn more while pulling Anya, who didn't enjoy learning as much. Nekane would head over to the local hospital and learn various healing techniques while assisting with patients. She took to the difficult spells with ease and helped everyone who went through the doors, whether by welcoming them or treating them. She became so knowledgeable about healing, that Naruto, Anya, and Negi never had to go to the hospitals from sickness or injury, because Nekane would immediately take the time to help them out with her knowledge and spells.

Naruto, on the other hand, grew in an almost exponential fashion under the keen eyes of the headmaster. He would start off the day with basic meditation and spell training, nothing too rigorous. Then he would study up on his theory in the headmaster's study, the only part of the day he really hated. However, it was necessary, and the headmaster would clearly explain anything Naruto was confused about. As time went on, Naruto became well-versed in theory. While he could never be a magic professor or researcher, he knew more than enough to increase his knowledge on magic to improve his skills in using the spells.

After lunch, Naruto would go outside and practice on more advanced spells in an open field nearby. Usually, Naruto was alone when he did this, although the headmaster would always visit halfway through to check on Naruto's progress and gives pointers here and there. All the villagers, however, knew to never approach the site during this time. Widespread destruction usually occurred in the area, even with Naruto straining himself to contain the damage to one area. Also, Naruto would work on wandless and unincantated magic. While at first he could only do either type, after a year of practice, he found himself doing both, even though his power was severely limited when using it. Naruto took this period of time to increase his endurance and power so that he could adequately use magic without severe limits and bodily strain.

* * *

_'Man I need to thank the old man for these artifacts. They're perfect training dummies considering they move around on the ground and in the air,' Naruto thought as he dodged the bullets of light._

_These five artifacts also shot bullets, which when hit with, created a small field of gravity that continued to build up, making it perfect to train with. Flying rapidly through the skies and rolling on the ground, these little gray spheres had one red eye from where it shot bullets. They were quick, light little mice darting around for cheese._

_Getting into a stance, Naruto held out his hand and chanted, "__Veniant Spiritus Glaciales! Extentantur Aeri! Tundram et Glaciem, Loci Noctis Albae! Crystallizatio Tellustris!__" (__Come, Spirits of Ice! Spread Forth into the Air! Tundra and Glacier in the Realm of White Night! Frozen Earth!__)_

_Immediately, the water vapor in the area surrounding him condensed into water and froze, trapping all of the artifacts, whether they were close to the ground or above in the air. While normally, the spell only managed to freeze moisture close to the ground, Naruto powered the spell enough to extend the range to take moisture within 150 feet from the ground and in a 100 feet radius around him, instead of at one target. It took a lot more magical energy, but it would be extremely effective in slowing down opponents who would attack in mobs. While he wished he could use the __Κοσμικη Καταστροφη (End of the World) spell, he knew he was not nearly as powerful enough to cast a spell of that magnitude without extreme exhaustion, let alone without a wand. It was then he decided to experiment a little bit more, since he still had massive amounts of magical energy stored within him._

_He thought, __'Ex Somno Exsistat Exundans Undina Inimicum Immergat in Alveum! Vinctus Aquarius!' (__Let the Wave-Tossed Undine Appear from Sleep and Submerge the Enemy into the Riverbed! Water Binder!)_

_Immediately, five pillars of high speed water began cutting into the ice until it broke the ice and completely trapped the artifacts in a barrier of water, swirling at high speeds around the magical items._

_Just in case they decided to break through, Naruto placed a strong wind protection spell to prevent it from being able to do anything else._

_"_ _Κρατιστη Αιγις (Strongest Protection)," he said as seals, wards, and protective magic circles in quick succession, effectively sealing off magic and physical attacks._

_The headmaster walked from afar, clapping his hands, "I see you've mastered these spells, are you exhausted at all?"_

_Naruto said, "Not particularly, just a bit sweaty."_

_Surprised, the headmaster told Naruto, "You have an unnatural amount of energy in you. Most magicians, myself included would be breathing heavily after casting such powerfully charged spells in succession, without a wand either. I believe I noticed you casting a silent spell as well."_

_Naruto merely shrugged, "I've always been like this though."_

_The headmaster nodded, "Well continue what you were doing then, but don't overdo it, because even you have your limits."_

_With that, the headmaster headed back to his room, pondering exactly how much Naruto could grow up with all the potential he had._

* * *

Naruto had told the truth that day, but he still trained, knowing he could push his endurance to even greater heights. Continuing the difficult regimen, three years passed for the entire family as everyone grew.

The family was sitting together, eating dinner, when they heard a knock on the door. Anya immediately stood up to get it, already finished with her food. Opening the door, she was surprised to see one of her fellow students who always stayed back to help the staff after school.

"Hey Serene. Did you need something?"

"Hi Anya. I was wondering if your brother Naruto was here," Serene said with a small smile.

"Oh sure, wait a minute. Naruto nii-san! Someone wants to see you! And it's a girl too!" Anya teased.

Serene blushed slightly as Naruto yelled out, "Be right there! Anya, don't tease the kid!"

A few seconds later, Naruto, chopsticks still in hand, went to the door.

"Oh hey, you help headmaster after school, don't you? Ano... Serene right?" Naruto asked, scratching the back of his head.

"Yes. Anyway, the headmaster would like to see you immediately," Serene said, blush growing stronger.

Naruto was startled by this. The headmaster almost never needed him after hours unless it was something really important. Naruto nodded and sent Serene off.

Calling out to Nekane and Negi, Naruto shouted, "Hey, I'll be back in a few minutes! I have to go talk to ojii-san about something apparently."

He set out in a dash towards the school, and upon reach the doors, used _shunshin_ to enter the headmaster's room. Being used to this, the wizened magi was not surprised.

"Naruto, I'm glad you're here. Please sit down."

Naruto went to the chair offered to him and sat down. He had a feeling this was going to be an important conversation, and so he kept quiet.

The headmaster continued, "I believe I have taught you everything I can, and all you have to do is master it all. I know you've been keeping a small notebook to record all this stuff, so I expect you to keep on practicing, because you still much to do before becoming a _Magister Magi_. However, this is all up to you now, because what you really need is more real world experience. Therefore, your apprenticeship under me is officially complete, but I need you to do some jobs in other places for you to grow and as a personal favor from me. You'll always be my apprentice and can come to me for help, but it's important for you to get out into the world."

Naruto nodded, surprised at his completed apprenticeship. Early on, he believed he would only need this to become a _Magister Magi_, but he had to admit the headmaster had a point. To reach such a status, he would really need experience in using magic in the real world, being a help to others. Of course, he had to keep in mind not everyone knew about magic because he had no desire to become an ermine like Chamo, Negi's little friend who was somewhat of a moocher.

"And so I have decided to send you to do a job in Japan, which is right up your alley as a Japanese person."

Upon hearing this, Naruto mentally smacked himself, his cover story to others about his ninja roots was being found on the streets in Tokyo, Japan, which explained his accent and cultural quirks. He should have known it would lead him into something.

"You will be an English teacher in Japan. Specifically, Mahora Academy."

AN: Oh my, slight drama-building cliffhanger. Before you ask, Negi has NOT graduated yet. He still has another year to go. You can probably guess what will happen next. Now that I think about it, not the greatest plot twist ever, but it'll sure put a spin on things.

Oh man, this chapter was kind of dull, but necessary for exposition. This should be the last timeskip for a while as Naruto begins his new teaching career. As a note, this obviously means that I will be slightly diverging from the manga plot line now. I use the excuse of Naruto's presence creating a change in canon. While some of the stuff in the manga will still be happening, things will be... different... this time around. But of course, if you've been following with the timeline, it'll be a while before the manga universe actually happens.

Regarding pairings, it'll be a surprise. Also, don't expect Naruto to get a girlfriend fast, or anytime soon, but trust me when I say the romance element will be there. Unfortunately, truth be told, I can't even be sure of the pairings until after I characterize all of the key players in the story as it goes along, so right now, the pairing really is a surprise, even for me, I can only have an idea of what might happen. However, everyone will see as the story unfolds.

Once again, thanks for all the reviews and support, and hopefully I won't disappoint! Also, I'll apologize right now if this story is going in a direction you dislike, but sincerely hope you will try reading it anyway. Oh and anything you'd like to point out for me to fix or to take into consideration, please go ahead and drop a review/message.

EDIT: To clarify:

Naruto joins the family at age 5

He moves to Wales at age 9

He graduates at age 11

He completes his apprenticeship/starts teaching at age 14

Also, Negi is currently 8 years old, almost turning 9, with one more year left until he graduates.

Hopefully, this helps people understand a bit. It's important, because Naruto will be the same age as the beginning students at Mahora Academy.


	5. Chapter 4

"Wait a minute, you want me to what? Am I hearing you right?"

The headmaster shrugged, "Maybe you need to get your ears checked. Either way, I need you to go teach English at Mahora Academy."

"Why do they need me as a teacher? People create jobs for a reason you know old man," Naruto said, desperate for a way out.

"I know that Naruto, but this is a special case. Apparently, this year, there are more people entering into the academy than the usual. The original plan was to incorporate large classes, but that would mean less quality teaching. When I heard about this, I immediately offered your services."

"And you think I can teach these kids English well?" Naurto asked incredulously.

"Well… no. But I told you, you need more experience with the real world. If you can take this job, where you have to be careful with magic and help others out, you'll truly be ready for the duties of a _Magister Magi_," the headmaster said, nodding, "Besides, you already know Japanese and English fluently, so who would be better for the job?"

"Ummm, anyone really. Even Negi would be better for the job. I mean, you saw my theory scores. If that's what my written work is like, how can I teach a bunch of kids," Naruto exclaimed.

"Well, then that's good, because these girls aren't kids. They're your age."

Naruto immediately fell silent, processing this information.

"Wait a minute. What did you say?" Naruto yelled, realizing what the headmaster had said, both about the age and the gender of his "prospective students".

The headmaster started ushering Naruto out of the door, ignoring Naruto's last comment, "Oh so you'll take the job? I'm ever so glad. You'll get to meet my friend, who's the dean there. I expect you to be ready within two weeks to leave for Japan. Of course you can come back to visit on holidays. Thank you so much. Good-bye!"

With that, the headmaster shut the door on Naruto, leaving him completely bewildered in the school hallway. When the lock clicked, Naruto snapped out of his stupor and immediately pounded on the door.

"Open up you senile old man! I'm not done talking to you!"

Unfortunately for Naruto, he received no answer. After ten minutes of straight pounding, Naruto grudgingly gave up, resolving to talk to the headmaster the following day, and headed back to his home.

* * *

As soon as Nekane heard the knock, she rushed to open the door.

"What did the headmaster want Naruto? Was it something important?" she asked, worried for both the headmaster and her dear little brother.

Nekane took a look at Naruto and could have sworn she saw a ghost, doomed for eternity.

"My life is over nee-san," Naruto whispered eerily.

Leading Naruto back to the dining table, Nekane sat down once again, waiting for Naruto's explanation.

Naruto took a deep breath and said, "In two weeks, I have to leave Wales."

"WHAT!" Nekane, Anya, and Negi yelled out simultaneously.

"I guess someone out there hates me, because I have to go teach English in a Japanese school called Mahora Academy," Naruto mumbled out, clearly sharing the same sentiments as his siblings.

Nekane started to feel faint, putting her head on the table, "You're not joking about this, right Naruto? This isn't just some little prank?"

Naruto shook his head, "I wish I could joke about this, but it seems I don't have a choice. I'm going to try talking to the old man again tomorrow, but for some reason, I don't think it'll work."

"Don't worry Naruto, I'll try as well," Nekane said.

"I don't want Naruto nii-san to leave!" Negi cried out.

"Me neither," Anya said, holding back tears, always thinking she was the stronger of the two.

"We'll all try to make sure our dear brother won't leave. First, we need to go talk to the old man," Nekane said determinately.

Naruto's eyes widened at this. If _Nekane_ started calling the headmaster an old man, it meant she was really mad.

* * *

Unfortunately, the next two weeks passed with the headmaster "out on business," according to his secretary. Try as they might, Naruto and Nekane knew there would be no way Naruto could get out of his teaching predicament. On the bright side, Naruto did not have to worry about training, and spent the time he had left with his family. Melodramatic at best, Naruto would always complain about never seeing his family again because of the stupid old man, when in truth he'd be back for the holidays.

Exactly two weeks after the fateful day, Naruto had his bags packed and stood with his family in the dining room, sharing his last moments in Wales with them. An ominous knock reverberated throughout the house, and Naruto went to answer the door. The headmaster stood with an attendant, ready to bring Naruto to the airport and off to Japan.

"Now Naruto," Nekane said sternly, "you have to send us letters everyday with how you are. Okay? I know you know that small teleportation spell to transfer letters and things like that, so you better keep in touch."

"Yes Nekane nee-san."

"And I want you back here during every holiday as well as Negi and Anya's graduation. Okay?"

"Yes nee-san."

"And I want you to make sure you behave yourself. That means no pranks, have good hygiene, and clean up yourself."

"I got it Nekane."

"And…"

Naruto rolled his eyes at that, but Nekane approached him with a hug.

"Keep yourself safe, okay? I don't think we could bear it if something happened to you."

Naruto nodded at this, hugging Nekane tightly. Then, moving on to his little brother and sister, he pulled them into a group hug as well.

"Keep yourselves safe, okay? Negi, Anya."

The two young children nodded. Negi said, "You too, Naruto nii-san."

Naruto laughed, "Don't worry too much, I'll be in Japan in a school. What could go wrong?"

With that, Naruto followed the headmaster and his attendant to the simple car and drove off towards the airport and into his new life.

* * *

It was odd, being in a world that was both so close to home yet so radically different. Obviously, it was no Konoha, with its towering steel buildings and its extravagant lights. However, the Japanese characters, the language, and the mere atmosphere brought back wisps of memories of the past. While Naruto lived in Konoha for only five years, he could still remember the Japanese chatter of the villagers and the hectic morning business, whether it was selling ramen or managing a flower store, the sentiment was still the same.

Still, Japan was a completely new world to Naruto, despite the similarities. Entering onto the train per the instructions of the headmaster written on a piece of paper, he was surprised to see mostly girls carrying large pieces of luggage with them. While Naruto had his own suitcase, he did not expect to see so many girls doing the same.

Naruto asked the nearest girl about the crowd.

"What? You don't know? It's the start of the school year at Mahora Academy," the girl said clearly surprised at Naruto's lack of knowledge.

'_Mahora Academy,'_ Naruto mused, _'Why does that sound so familiar? Wait, it can't be the same place the old man was talking about. He was serious about it being mostly girls?'_

While Naruto thought that, his face went through contortions of confusion, comprehension, and then finally apprehension. The girl, clearly thinking Naruto was not sane, moved away slightly and looked out the window.

Naruto, completely oblivious at the girl's discomfort, stared out the same window, watching the buildings rush by.

'_This will be a very long year,'_ Naruto thought to himself.

Fifteen minutes passed like this, with Naruto completely silent while the chatter of young, excited girls washed over him. Soon enough, a small forest appeared, with lots of green grass and plants, clearly all taken care of. As the train slowed to a stop, Naruto saw the tops of several buildings poking out from behind the trees. At one glance, he could immediately tell this was Mahora Academy, but the sheer size of the land and the buildings surprised him. There were at least seven different buildings, ranging from tall buildings with a clock tower or smaller buildings where girls had begun to cluster around. Paved roads led the way into the small clusters of trees, leading to the beige-red buildings. The largest building stood in the middle, clearly the place for main lessons, while the smaller buildings the girls were clustered around were more than likely the dorms.

As Naruto followed the road to the large main building, he could see a small lake to his left, with a small island in the middle. In the distance, Naruto noticed something odd. It seemed to be a large tree upon a hill. An extremely large tree. Remembering what the headmaster told him, Naruto immediately figured this tree to be the World Tree, rumored to have mystical abilities and be as tall as a mountain. While Naruto could not tell the Tree's potential magic from afar, he knew that the rumors about the size of the tree were completely true.

In his wonder, he accidentally bumped into the redhead walking by him. The small chime of bells rang in the air as she fell down.

"Oy, you baka, watch where you're going!" the pigtailed girl said.

"Oh I'm sorry!" Naruto said, bowing.

While Naruto wanted to give a scathing reply to the baka comment, Naruto held it in, knowing getting into a fight with a student on the first day would be bad for him. He looked carefully at the offending student. Aside from her boisterous spirit, she was quite odd. She had two long, flowing pigtails tied by a pair of bells, which chimed at the slightest movement. The oddest thing about her by far were her eyes, they were two different colors, a deep blue left eye and an aqua green right eye. It was almost mesmerizing, and Naruto, noticing he was staring, quickly turned away.

'_Those are some interesting eyes… Bah, I need to wake up, I'm a teacher,' _Naruto thought grimly.

"Ugh, whatever. Where are you going anyway?"

Naruto said, "I need to go talk with the dean."

"Well then you're heading in the wrong direction," she said, pointing at the main building, "That's where you want to go, not to the girl's dorms, you pervert."

Naruto opened his mouth in protest, but noticed it was true. He was heading for the dorms, complete with many girls clamoring to look at the list for their new roommates, instead of for the main building to meet the dean. With a sigh, Naruto thanked the girl, who merely gave a small grunt before leaving, and headed towards the main building.

* * *

After much searching, Naruto knew it_._ He was completely and utterly lost. He thought he would be fine looking around the building, but it was apparently much more expansive and confusing inside. Luckily, he was met with a middle-aged man with a kind complexion, short graying hair, and thin-rimmed glasses.

"Hello, can I help you with anything?" the man asked.

"Ano, are you a teacher here?" Naruto inquired.

"Why yes. I am Takahata-sensei. And you are…?"

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto. I'm supposed to be the new English teacher here from Wales. I think," Naruto said, scratching the back of his head.

"Oh, so that's who the Dean was talking about. He said you'd be young, but I didn't expect a teenager," Takahata-sensei said with a surprised look on his face, "No matter, will you follow me Naruto-sensei?"

Naruto nodded and followed next to him, keeping in time with Takahata-sensei's steps.

"Could you not call me Naruto-sensei? It makes me feel old," Naruto said sheepishly.

"Naruto-sensei, you'll have to get used to it, because soon everyone will be calling you that," Takahata-sensei said with a smile, "You sounded a bit unsure about being a sensei when I asked you. What happened?"

Naruto quickly launched into the story of how he came here due to his apprenticeship while doing little to hide the spite he had for his "master." However, he did leave out the mentions of magic, keeping in mind the consequences of revealing it to normal people. Takahata-sensei, for his part, merely nodded in understanding.

Eventually they reached a large door with a sign next to it saying "Dean." Takahata-sensei opened the door and allowed Naruto in. Sitting behind a desk, sitting in a comfortable, blue chair, was an ancient man, bald everywhere on his scalp except for a long, white ponytail cascading down from the back of his head. He also had an equally long beard coupled with a small mustache above his mouth. Slight wrinkles lined his face and crease lines spread across his forehead. His ears were pierced by a large band on each side, pulling his earlobes past his chin, while his eyes sunk in age behind bushy, long eyebrows.

"Ah, Naruto-san, just the person I was looking for," the Dean said, "I am Konoemon Konoe. Thank you for accepting the job here."

"Not that I had a choice," Naruto mumbled.

"What was that?"

"Oh, it's nothing. But I don't have many qualifications to teach…" Naruto trailed.

"That is quite fine," the Dean with a small chuckle, "If you can speak English, write English, and explain English, that is all you need to teach these classes. However, you will also have to take on one of the classes as a homeroom as well."

Naruto nodded wearily, _'Well if I'm here, might as well do whatever the Dean says. No point in doing things halfway.'_

"I do have to warn you though," the Dean said seriously, "this will be an interesting class for you. There are, how should I say this, an assortment of different characters in the group of girls you'll be teaching. I hope you're ready for it."

"Eh?"

"Don't worry about it though, because if you need help, you can count on the staff here to help you out," leaning forward slightly, the Dean said in a lower tone, "and do be careful about your magic. You will be needing it, but don't be throwing it around. Not everyone knows about it here."

Naruto looked worriedly towards Takahata-sensei. The Dean followed Naruto's gaze and understood.

"Some teachers like Takahata-sensei know magic too, so don't be too worried. And should the need arise, do not hesitate to use magic in emergencies to save your class. I know I said to not throw it around, but if the desperate need comes, you should use it."

Naruto was completely confused at this, not understanding the seemingly contradictory words of the Dean. However, at that moment, a hurricane entered the room in the form of a red-head dragging along a long-haired, innocent-looking girl. The rings of bells could be heard once again, and Naruto immediately wanted to slap his face.

'_Oh no, not her,' _he thought, _'anyone but her.'_

"Dean, what's the meaning of thi-," the same pigtailed girl from earlier screamed before noticing something.

Naruto, following her gaze, saw her look towards Takahata-sensei.

"Takahata-sensei! Ano, I didn't see you there," the girl said, blushing, remembering the kind man who helped her all those years ago, "I never said thank you for the bells you gave me back then. They go great with my hair."

"You're welcome Asuna. It's the least I could do for one of our students. It must have been hard coming in as an orphan," Takahata-sensei said.

Asuna looked away at that, but quickly hid it with a smile. Upon seeing Naruto, it quickly dropped to a frown.

"Oh it's you," she scoffed.

Naruto twitched at that, "And what was with that tone of voice?"

Asuna merely stuck her tongue out at Naruto. During this time, the long-haired girl behind her giggled.

"Sorry about her," the girl said to Naruto, "She's a bit high strung right now."

Asuna, remembering why she came here, began yelling again, "Dean, who is this Uzumaki Naruto kid on the list? Why do we have a boy in the dorms? And more importantly, in our room?"

When said "kid" heard this, he immediately knew he was in deep trouble this year.

"Asuna-chan. Konoka-chan. Meet Uzumaki Naruto," the Dean said, pointing at the sweating Naruto.

"NANI?" Asuna yelled, "He's sleeping in our dorm?"

Konoka, immediately tried placating Asuna, saying, "Well I'm sure grandpa has a good reason for putting Naruto-san with us."

Naruto was startled at the word "grandpa" and turned towards the Dean. He nodded, "Naruto, this is Kagurazaka Asuna. The other girl is my granddaughter, Konoe Konoka."

"Nice to meet you Konoka-san," Naruto said, bowing.

"Hey what about me?" Asuna fumed as Konoka giggled once again.

"Well I already know you, don't I? And I'm just treating you like you treated me," Naruto said coolly.

Asuna quickly turned red with anger, ignoring the fact that Takahata-sensei was there, and yelled, "Why do I have to put up with him?"

The Dean responded, "Naruto is new here, and there aren't enough rooms available for him to stay in. I figured that since it's only you two in the room and you both came here earlier than the other students, you could help him settle in."

Before Asuna could butt in, Konoka quickly said, "What is he going to be doing at the school grandpa?"

"Oh, Naruto-san here will be your class's homeroom and English teacher this year," the Dean said with a smile.

At this, the two girls fell silent.

A few quiet seconds later, a loud yell of, "NANI?" echoed throughout the entire school.

* * *

Led by an angry, mumbling Asuna, Naruto and Konoka trailed behind as they headed to _their_ new dorms. Naruto was holding a map of the school, the list of his new students, and a textbook in one hand while carrying his luggage with the other.

"I can't believe I let the Dean do this. If he hadn't taken me into the school free of charge, I would kick this kid out the door," Asuna grumbled.

Konoka and Naruto, meanwhile, were making small talk.

"Hey Konoka, how do you know Asuna?" Naruto asked.

"Oh, well, you know that I'm the Dean's granddaughter right? Well, Asuna was taken into Mahora Academy by the Dean free of charge because… well, I'll let her tell you," she trailed off.

Naruto looked questioningly at Konoka, but she merely shook her head slightly.

"So Naruto, where are you from?" Konoka said, smiling.

Naruto could not say everything about himself, but could not resist Konoka's smile, and said, "Well, I live with my family in Wales, until I recently got this job."

"Oh I see, what did you do over there?"

Looking up at the sky, he said, "Well I was an apprentice…"

"Oh really for what?"

Naruto froze at that, he should have known all these questions would ruin him, "Ano…"

Suddenly, Asuna yelled out, "We're here!"

Naruto quickly thanked the powers that be for Asuna's loudness and immediately remarked about the room, "Wow, this looks more like an apartment more than a dorm."

The dorm was fully furnished, with a couch, television, kitchen, refrigerator, all the works. While the color scheme itself was mostly white, all of the resources in the room easily made up for the lack of decoration. However, he could see the woman's touch in the room through the occasional flower vase or stuffed animal on the coffee table.

Asuna did not answer Naruto's statement, but merely grunted and went into a room Naruto believed was hers. Konoka smiled apologetically and followed her. With a groan, he took his luggage into the other room. Unfortunately, it was not a sleeping room, but the bathroom.

Knocking on the door, Naruto walked in saying, "Hey you guys, where am I supposed to sle…" and was immediately met with a large pillow in his face.

"Hey what was that for?" Naruto yelled.

"That, baka, was for entering without permission! What if we were changing?" Asuna yelled back.

"Well I knocked!"

"And you entered before we even said anything!"

"Well then close the door!"

"Do you have no shame?"

Konoka merely shook her head, went over to the nearby drawer, and calmly pulled out a large hammer.

Calmly brandishing the tool, she smiled saying, "Now you two, I think we can talk this out."

The two bickering teenagers immediately shut their mouths and nodded slowly.

"Good!" Konoka cheerfully said, putting the hammer back, "Now what were you asking Naruto-sensei?"

'_Again with the sensei,'_ Naruto thought, rolling his eyes, "I was just wondering where I'm supposed to sleep, since there's only one room to sleep in."

"Well of course you're sleeping on the couch," Asuna said, narrowing her eyes.

"Asuna-chan! Be a little nicer. I'm sure sensei can sleep in the spare bed in the room," Konoka said, and upon noticing Asuna's look, continued, "Naruto-sensei, in return, will knock before entering the room. Right sensei?"

Seeing the exact same face Konoka had when she carried the hammer, Naruto nodded rapidly, saying, "Of course. I won't betray your trust."

Asuna, backed into a corner, said, "Fine, but one wrong move from you Naruto-_sensei_ and you're sleeping on the couch."

With a sigh, Naruto nodded and put his luggage on the spare bed on the other side of the room and started heading out the door.

"Naruto-sensei, where are you going?" Konoka asked.

"I figured you girls were probably doing something important, and so I'll head to class first. Oh, and do me a favor and don't tell anyone about me yet, ne? It'll be a surprise," Naruto said with a sly grin.

Konoka nodded and Asuna gave a slight dip of her head. With that, Naruto walked away, taking the book and student list and began following the map to his new class.

* * *

Naruto walked into the seemingly empty classroom, taking in the large room with the three columns of desks. The desks were simply made of wood, long enough to accommodate about three people each. The room itself was not very decorated, painted white with wooden accents. In front of the room was a larger, more ornate desk made of a darker wood and a simple chalkboard.

However, in the corner of the room sat a blue-haired girl with braided front bangs and long, flowing hair behind her back, tied at the end by a large white ribbon and split apart beyond that point. A little bit of her hair stuck out and hung over at an odd angle on top. She was quietly reading a violet book, but her face betrayed little emotion. Naruto found it odd that she would be in class this early when she should have been settling into her new room and approached her.

"Hey there, why are you here so early?" Naruto asked.

The girl looked up from her book, surprised someone else would be in the classroom this early. However, after taking the appearance of this new person, she went back to reading.

"Did you hear me?"

The girl completely ignored this but appeared to be engrossed in her reading. Naruto frowned at this, but decided on taking another approach.

"That looks like an interesting book, what's it about?" he questioned.

The girl let out a small, exasperated sigh, putting her book down.

"Why are you asking me these questions?" she asked, eyes staring straight into Naruto's.

"I just wanted to get to know the people here better," Naruto replied, "Nice to meet you, I'm Uzumaki Naruto!"

She picked up her book once again and muttered quietly, "Ayase Yue."

Naruto immediately deducted that Yue was quite introverted and liked books. Trying to get her to open up, Naruto settled down next to her and attempted to start a conversation once again.

"So Yue-san, what do you think about the school so far?" Naruto asked with a large smile.

"It's okay," she said quietly, not looking up from her book.

An awkward silence fell upon the two. Naruto gazed outside the window and looked at the clouds passing by in the sky, unsure of what to do next. Taking out the textbook the Dean had given him along with a pencil from his pocket, Naruto began drawing magic runes and writing spells on the pages out of pure habit, forgetting where he was. He even began sketching the actual spell in use, detailing what would happen as the spell took place and imagined what modifications he could make to the incantation to improve the spell or increase its uses.

Soon enough Yue looked up from the book and noticed Naruto drawing on the book. However, in her mind, she saw him defacing a book and immediately moved to stop him.

Holding his wrist, she hissed, "What are you doing to that book?"

"Drawing," he said nervously.

Yue immediately took the book out of his hands and looked at his doodling. The strange markings and sketches seemed familiar to her, and immediately she recognized it from something she once read. However, it seemed odd that this Naruto knew about it as well.

"What exactly were you drawing?" Yue asked slowly.

Naruto began to sweat when he heard this. He could not reveal that he knew magic, and looking at the clock, class was not supposed to start for another half an hour. Quickly, he made up a half-lie.

"Well, I used to read these fantasy stories as a kid, and I loved to imagine myself using magic. So when I'm bored, I like to draw imaginary spells from the books I read and make my own sometimes for fun," Naruto said, hoping Yue believed him.

To some extent, this was true. Ever since Nagi introduced Naruto to magic, he was always interested in it and would practice it. But more than that, Naruto would always imagine himself doing amazing things with it. Unknowingly, Nekane further boosted Naruto's desire to learn magic when she would read to him stories about heroes slaying dragons, saving villages, and helping people all using magic.

When Yue heard this, her eyes brightened from her dull visage. She too had been enamored with stories about fantasy and magic ever since she was a child. Even when her grandfather had died, the one thing that remained with her was her love of reading these mystical stories. Truth be told, she loved reading all books and learning from them, but her favorite would always be those about magic, the seemingly impossible becoming possible.

Naruto noticed this subtle change in her facial features and decided he could be a little bit more descriptive about it, without revealing his status, if only to make her smile.

"You see this here? This is Latin for wind…" Naruto started.

"Why do you use Latin for your made-up spells?" Yue asked, interested.

"Well, I… err…. In the stories I read, spells are usually read in a foreign language, and Latin, which is the root of many other languages, would make sense because magic seems like an ancient type of skill, so an old-style language would do best to control the flow of magic," Naruto explained, wondering how he even remembered from that from his theory classes.

"Oh, I see!" Yue said with a smile, "I guess that makes sense, although in some stories, they just made up their own languages or used Japanese."

Their conversation continued, and Yue felt more and more drawn to the blonde boy, someone who understood her love of fantasy.

'_Maybe this is what it's like to have friends,'_ Yue thought to herself.

As the minutes ticked by, more and more girls came into the classroom. Blonde girls, pretty girls, sociable girls, strong girls, they all walked in one by one or in groups with their new friends. Yue was surprised to note, however, that Naruto did not make a move to talk to the others, instead staying focused on their conversation.

Soon enough, Asuna and Konoka walked into the classroom and noticed Naruto. The redhead moved to get the blonde, but Konoka stopped her, shaking her head. Asuna noticed Naruto was already making friends with someone and nodded back, moving to take a seat with Konoka.

Naruto finally saw his life at the school look up. Konoka and Asuna were nice, but they were not as close as they could be yet. With Yue, however, Naruto could be free to talk, and she would always respond in kind. Sure, she was a little quiet at first, but she was hiding a passion for what she enjoyed: reading, learning, and fantasy. Even when other girls tried to approach Naruto, he merely graced them with a nod and a wave before returning to the conversation. He felt a special connection to Yue, whether it was because of how they both had few friends, or because of their mutual interests he did not know, but Naruto knew he wanted to keep this bond.

Interrupting Yue's little explanation, in her view, of magical elements, Naruto said, "Yue-san, will you be my friend?"

Yue was taken aback by this abrupt question, and just said, "What?"

"Well, we're both new here at this school, so I was wondering if we could be friends. I mean, if you don't want to, it's okay, but it'd be nice if…"

'_This Naruto person seems nice enough, and he seems to really want to be my friend, I suppose I could give it a try,' _Yue thought.

"I'd like that," she said quietly.

At this Naruto smiled widely and hugged Yue. She blushed at his forwardness.

"Okay, then from now on, we'll be good friends Yue-chan!" Naruto exclaimed.

Yue, surprised, merely nodded slowly.

"Ano, Yue-chan, why do you still have your luggage underneath the desk?" Naruto said as he noticed it after kicking it on accident during the hug.

"I didn't really want to meet people, so I came straight here to read," Yue said shyly.

"That's not good Yue-chan! You need to go meet your roommates and get to know them since you'll be staying with them for a while," Naruto said, worried for his new friend, "Now promise me by the end of today you'll get to know them a little bit better."

She nodded as the bell rung and the final students were getting into their seats. The girls started mumbling to each other about who their teacher and why that person was late on the first day of class. They also started pointing at Naruto as well, seeing he was the only boy in the class. He noticed this and realized he had to reveal himself to the class.

"Ah, Yue-chan, it looks like it's time for me to go do my thing, let's hang out later," Naruto said cheerfully, "Oh and promise me you won't think I'm too weird."

Yue made a confused face as she thought, _'Well that's an odd thing to say. Isn't he in this class? And why would I think he's weird?'_

Immediately, Naruto disappeared in a poof of smoke and appeared behind the teacher's desk in the back of the room. The girls quickly started mumbling to themselves again.

"What is this kid thinking?"

"Who is he?"

"Was that move…?"

"Excuse me…" Naruto said, clearing his throat, but the class gave no response.

Taking the book in his hand, he slammed it on the desk, hard. A resounding smack could be heard as paper met wood at high velocities.

"Ahem, now that I have your attention," Naruto said, "I would like to make a speech."

He pulled out a small slip of paper from the textbook and began reading it.

"Wecome Class 1-A to the new school year. I am Uzumaki Naruto, your English teacher and homeroom teacher for the next few years, unless something happens," Naruto added in an afterthought.

The class got rowdy once again, and Naruto sighed exasperatedly. One young, blond-haired girl immediately narrowed her eyes at the name.

'_Uzumaki Naruto,'_ the quiet girl thought to herself, _'Why does he look so familiar.'_

Meanwhile, Naruto caught Yue's eyes and rolled his eyes at her. She giggled lightly, but Naruto was glad to see Yue still kept the friend mentality with him, despite his newly revealed teacher status. Finally deciding on a more malicious technique to get the class's attention, he took his nails and scratched them across the chalkboard. The class shuddered in unison, and even Naruto flinched as his nails left the board.

"Yes, I'm your teacher, now would you all quiet down?" Naruto yelled.

A hand rose up in the front row.

"Yes?" Naruto addressed the blonde girl.

"How can you be our teacher? You look exactly our age," she asked.

"What's your name?"

"Yukihiro Ayaka," she stated.

"Ano… Ayaka-san, the reason I'm your teacher is because I'm doing it as a favor to the Dean here, who knows my own master. And before you ask if I can teach the class, the answer is, I can only try my best. It'll be my first time teaching, but at least I'm fluent in English."

Immediately, another hand rose up in the back. Naruto pointed at the red-headed girl with a camera around her neck.

"Hello, I'm Asakura Kazumi. Where did you learn all of these things? Who were you apprenticed to?"

"Before I answer that," Naruto said, pointing to the camera, "What's the camera for?"

Kazumi blushed a little at this before mumbling something about wanting to be a reporter.

Naruto nodded and replied, "I lived in London, and then in Wales, so I learned all about English as a child. As to who I was apprenticed to, it was the headmaster at a school. Anyway, enough about me. Let's go through some quick introductions throughout the entire class so that we all know about one another. Let's start at number one, Aisaka Sa…"

He looked at the class roster and saw a note next to the name left by the Dean that said, _"Ghost. Do not call out."_

"…I mean Akashi Yuna…"

And so throughout the first class, Naruto and his students went through introductions about each other. While Naruto probably should have started teaching a lesson, he figured it would be a good chance to learn about everyone. Well, then again, he never had anything planned yet either. In fact, he had not even opened his book yet.

'_I guess I'll actually have to start working and planning for this stuff now,'_ Naruto thought to himself as the bell rang signaling a class change.

"I guess I'll see you girls later on during homeroom then," Naruto said with a wave, "which I believe is right before lunch…"

With that, Naruto left the room, and the girls started chatting amongst themselves about their new teacher.

"Oh wow, wasn't he kind of cute?"

"He's so young, I can't believe we're so lucky to get someone our age to teach us."

"Did you see the poof of smoke before he got to the desk?"

"Wasn't he hanging out with Yue-san before class started?"

Said girl was merely sitting in the corner once again, reading her book. But this time, she had a smile on her face.

AN: Whoo boy, this was a tough chapter to get out. This is the first chapter that really developed some character and bonds. Before you ask, no this does not mean Naruto will get with any of these girls (although it is quite possible). However, I'm setting it up so that Naruto makes some close friendships first, something he had little of back in Konoha or even as he trained to be a magician (since he was more focused on his family).

While I tried to keep most of the people in character, keep in mind that the girls haven't had much time to bond or develop yet since it's their first year at Mahora Academy, so they will be a bit more reserved and holding on to their original qualities. Also, for Naruto's case, he's still immature to a point, but he's also more well-learned and experienced, along with growing up in a family, so he'll be a little bit more refined in some cases, but you'll see some of his prankster side come alive in some lapses of judgment or in good fun.

If you guys noticed anything I missed, need to address, or need to fix, please tell me. I hate filler/expository stuff. Development is such a pain, but extremely important, so please tell me so I can fix them before I get too far ahead.

Also, I apologize for the lateness of the chapter, but some personal things came up. I promise the next chapter will be longer and hopefully have better things in it as well.


	6. Chapter 5

'_Well that sure was an interesting bunch,'_ Naruto thought to himself as he walked towards the Dean's office to report on his first class during his break time.

A few kids definitely stood out to Naruto, either due to their eccentricities or because of some other things. Of course Yue Ayase made a big impact on him, even though he was the one who pulled her into the conversation. In truth, he felt a strong connection to her because of how they both had few friends, and Naruto refused to see another person suffering of loneliness like he did back in Konoha. He already knew the boisterous Asuna and the somewhat mild-mannered Konoka. The twins Fuuka and Fumika seemed a little bit active, but they reminded him a lot of his childhood, lively and full of pranks. Zazie Rainyday was an enigma, which piqued Naruto's interest. She was practically a wallflower, but she had a mysterious aura about her.

Then, there was the robot girl Chachamaru and her friend Evangeline A.K. McDowell. That was an oddball duo if Naruto ever saw one. When Naruto first saw the robot girl, he rubbed his eyes to make sure it was correct.

'_Who knew robot girls could go to school?' _Naruto mused.

Evangeline was a complete mystery that also completely scared Naruto. The girl kept on staring at him oddly the entire time, and even when his back was turned, he could feel her gaze. At first he chalked it up to mere "new teacher" interest, but it seemed to go beyond that. The look on her face seemed like she was trying to solve some difficult puzzle, and it was quite disconcerting. But for some reason, Naruto thought she looked somewhat familiar as well, like an old friend.

'_But who did I know back then?'_ Naruto thought as he opened the door.

"Ah, Naruto!" the Dean said, "Just the teacher I was looking for. How was your first lesson, with your homeroom class no less?"

"It was…" Naruto said hesitantly, "interesting. Some of those girls are a bit weird thought, to tell you the truth. But I think I can handle it… Maybe."

"Well that's good," the Dean said, "Either way, you're stuck with them for a while. Anyway, I have a job for you to do tonight."

"Eh? A job? I thought the job was to teach the class, there's more?"

"Of course there's more," the Dean chuckled, "Why would I hire a mage to take a class without any need for magic? There's quite a few things I need you to handle. Fortunately for you, tonight is just doing a quick check around the school. A rumor's been going around among the students about a mysterious presence along the lake, something that gives them the chills."

Naruto looked skeptically at this. That did not seem to warrant any searching. It sounded more like student paranoia on their first days of school, but Naruto let the issue slide.

"However, I'll be sending you along with another person as well, just to be careful," the Dean continued, "She knows about magic and everything, so don't worry too much. You'll meet her tonight. Report to my office after you've had dinner."

Naruto nodded and turned around, moving to leave.

"Oh wait, Naruto," the Dean said, "I want you to keep a special eye on your homeroom. These interesting characters you mentioned might be important later on, so try to keep them from harm."

"What do you mean?"

"You'll see," the Dean said cryptically as Naruto began to walk out the door, "Oh and by the way, would you like to marry my granddaughter?"

However, the Dean received no response as Naruto had already left.

'_Was it just me, or did he say marry Konoka?' _Naruto wondered, _'Nah, can't be. I need to get my ears checked. Probably can't hear because of that loud class, that and Asuna's constant yelling.'_

Whistling a tune to himself, Naruto idly wondered whether the school had a piano room.

* * *

_It was the first day of school at the magic academy. Naruto was waiting to be called into the practice room to show his skills to the teachers to be placed into classes. The room was probably the school's music room, since it was filled with musical instruments of all kinds. The mahogany wood of violins and cellos, the sets of drums jumbled in a group in the corner, and sheet music littered the ground from the previous class. What stood out though, was a single, white grand piano sitting in the center, the keys were exposed in its pure white and black colors._

_Naruto figured he had a lot of time, and sat down on the similarly colored bench. Back in Wales, he had seen an instrument like this and was mystified by the sounds it created. It was played by a local professional back then, and his hands glided along the keys like a flowing river. The music was amazing, calming Naruto even when he was an excited child learning magic. When he listened, he could put everything down and just close his eyes, listening to the sounds play along his ears and bringing him into a trance._

_He pressed one of the keys, and a clear sound resonated throughout the room. He knew each key represented a different note, but he had no clue what note it was. One by one, he pressed each note in succession, unknowingly playing the basic C scale. He whole-heartedly wished that he could play piano like the professional back in Wales, but he did not think he'd ever even get a chance to. A teacher walked in and put a hand on Naruto's shoulder. Naruto jumped under the touch._

"_You seem interested in that piano kid," the teacher said._

_Naruto nodded vigorously._

"_Well, all students are required to take an elective class aside from their normal classes and magic classes, why don't you take piano lessons?" the teacher said kindly with a warm smile._

"_Really? Can I really learn to play piano?" Naruto looked unbelievingly._

"_Of course you can! It'll be a bit hard with all the stuff you'll probably have to do, but it'll be a great way to relax if you're stressed."_

_Naruto remembered this as he walked to his diagnostic test. When he was placed into his classes, Naruto asked the Headmaster about elective classes._

"_Oh yes, you haven't selected one have you?" the Headmaster said._

"_Ano, I was wondering if I could take piano as my elective."_

_The Headmaster merely nodded at this and said, "An excellent choice if I do say so myself."_

_He wrote a small note on the paper indicating his classes. From that day on, Naruto learned the basics of piano and a few of the classics. He could never be considered a professional, with all the time he put into learning magic to become a Magister Magi, but he was able to sit in front of the piano and play for himself a few songs to forget about his stress. Even as he became an apprentice, he would secretly take a few minutes each day just to sit in front of the instrument and let his fingers dance upon the keys, enjoying the dulcet tunes of a Sonata or Waltz._

* * *

Meanwhile, the girls were discussing their latest teacher, once again. Even though the first day of school should always bring surprises, the girls were surprised at the young age of their new homeroom teacher.

Asuna and Konoka just kept to themselves because they knew Naruto and did not want to bring attention to themselves. Some of the girls were gossiping about how cute Naruto was with his defined whiskers, while others wondered exactly how smart their new sensei was. Evangeline still had her deep-thought look that even Chachamaru could not get her out of.

"Master, what are you doing?" Chachamaru questioned.

"Huh?" Eva asked, looking up, "It's nothing, just leave me alone so I can think."

Chao Lingshen, on the other hand, was talking to Mana Tatsumiya about this new teacher.

"He's an interesting teacher isn't he, a little bit carefree though, don't you think?"

Mana agreed, saying, "This won't be a normal class, I can see that for sure."

Meanwhile, Yue was fighting an epic battle against some of the girls like Misa Kakizaki, Kazumi Askakura, and Haruna Saotome. Said battle consisted of her burying herself in her book while the others kept on pestering her with questions.

"What's Naruto-sensei like?"

"What did you talk about?"

"Are you two in a relationship?"

Yue completely ignored all the questions and seemed engrossed in her book, although her cheeks tinged the slightest pink at the last suggestion. She never really considered a relationship with anyone at all, being happy reading her books. Still, she had to admit that Naruto brought out a different side to her, talking to him as a friend about things that interested her was fun. Yue was not used to talking with other people, but Naruto managed to pull her out of her reading and engaged her in amazing conversations.

Yue was surprised at Naruto being her sensei, even though she did not mention it or show it on her face. At first, she almost wanted to hate Naruto for not saying this, but realized he did it on purpose. He wanted to be friends with her as a normal person instead of a teacher. Upon figuring this out, she accepted both forms of her new friend. One as her one friend at the school, and the other as her new English and homeroom teacher.

Ignoring the questions and turning the page, Yue gave the slightest smile.

* * *

Naruto came back from the music room to begin the homeroom period with Class 1-A. He had found the room through some directions of the local nurse and guidance counselor, Shizuna Minamoto, when he wandered into her office by mistake. She had introduced herself and kindly gave Naruto directions, saying to come back whenever he needed help.

The class was once again, its rowdy self, and upon seeing their sensei enter, the noise level only increased. However, Naruto knew what to do. Raising his hands and putting it against the board, the class immediately sat down in their seats and turned quiet.

'_Man, I feel like a dictator,'_ Naruto thought with a sweat drop.

Homeroom period was very mild and loose, with Naruto announcing important event dates for things like the Cultural Festival and, to the chagrin of many students, dates of tests. After the announcements though, the students were free to talk as they pleased, and could start eating their lunch because of how lunch period was right after.

During the lunch period, most of the girls stayed in the class, choosing to get to know their classmates better. Still, some of the girls sat by themselves to eat their lunch, like Yue. However, Naruto saw that and caught her eye, pointing outside as he himself walked out with his book. Surprisingly, none of the other students caught the subtle movement as they were all deep into their conversations or their food. None except for Evangeline, who's eyes narrowed slightly at this, but made no move to follow them otherwise.

Yue silently walked out of the classroom with her lunch and her book a few minutes later. None of the girls paid attention to her after giving up trying to get information from her. One girl, however, had wanted to talk to her, but not about Naruto. Holding a book close to her, the purple-haired girl continued to talk with her new friend, the green-haired Haruna Saotome, promising to herself to talk to the lonely Yue later.

"Sensei, did you need something?" Yue asked as she got outside the classroom.

"Aw, Yue-chan, don't call me sensei when we're outside of class, it makes me feel old. We're friends," Naruto said, "aren't we?"

Yue's eyes widened at this. She was surprised Naruto did not mind spending time with her when she was so quiet. Although, she supposed she should have known seeing as Naruto talked with her for a long time before class despite other students being there.

"Yes, we are, Naruto-sen… er… Naruto," Yue said, correcting herself.

"Hehe," Naruto grinned, "Much better. Let's go up to the roof to eat our lunches. We never finished our talk about magic. Besides, I'd like to learn a little bit more about you."

As they were walking up the stairs, Yue asked a question that had been bothering her.

"Why do you want to be friends with me when you could be talking with any of the other girls in our class, or even with other teachers?"

Naruto frowned a little at this, "Does it really matter?"

Yue seemed ashamed at her question, but Naruto continued.

"Well, I guess it _is_ weird how I just started talking to you out of nowhere. Okay, well, besides the fact you were the only person in the room when I walked in… I guess you reminded me of myself."

"What do you mean?" Yue asked as they reached the roof.

Naruto sat down near the edge of the roof and looked into the distance. Deciding to trust Yue, he said, "When I was a kid, I literally had no friends my age. Sure, there were some really great adults who cared for me at times, but I was still an orphan that was avoided by everyone. Parents seemed to hate me, telling their kids to stay away from me. I never had a buddy to play with, and I would just sit at the swing at the park sometimes and watch other kids have fun. When I was adopted, I had a family and a few friends, but I buried myself in my studies. When I wasn't, I would help out my family or the villagers, not really making time to have close friends. Seeing you this morning reminded me of that loneliness and I didn't want you to feel that way either I guess."

Yue was surprised at the truthfulness and meaning behind Naruto's words. Then, the quiet girl that was completely out of character for her, she reached out to Naruto and hugged him.

"Thank you Naruto. I hope we can be really close friends, because you're my first friend here. Even if you are my sensei, I hope I can count on you."

Naruto nodded at this, and as Yue let go and moved to get her lunch, Naruto asked his own question.

"I'm sorry if this seems rude Yue-chan, but why aren't you making friends with other people? Don't get me wrong, I love having you as a friend, but I figured you'd want other people besides me to hang out with."

Yue stiffened hearing the question. She pulled out a juice box, quietly drinking it as she looked towards the same spot as Naruto had before. Naruto continued to look at Yue as he waited for an answer. Right when Naruto was about to try to talk about something else, thinking Yue did not want to talk about it, she seemed to reach a conclusion and began to speak.

"Since you told me your story, I suppose I should tell you mine if we're going to be friends. I didn't always use to be this quiet. In fact, I loved spending time with my grandfather, someone who always cared for me. But when he died, I didn't feel like talking as much anymore. I'd spend all the time in my family library, reading books about things from philosophy to fantasy. It would be my escape from the world, and I'd always think I wouldn't need friends when I had books. I guess you changed that though."

Naruto smiled at this, and he promised to himself, right then and there, to never betray Yue's trust. Yet with a pang, he realized one problem, his status as a magic user. If Yue knew that Naruto could use magic and never showed her, she'd never forgive him. Still, he could not worry about it now as the two of them continued to talk about things, ranging from magic, to first impressions about their classmates.

* * *

Asuna and Konoka walked back to their dorms as they talked animatedly about their first day. After their classes were over, they took the time to go to the library to get some homework done, thinking they did not want to do homework in front of their own sensei back at the dorms. As they opened the door, a flavorful smell drifted by and immediately claimed their attention. Dropping their backpacks and books right as they entered, they followed their noses to the kitchen. Immediately their mouths dropped.

Standing in front of the stove, decked out in an "I love ramen" apron and ladle, was Naruto, tasting a warm pot of, as predictable as it was, homemade ramen.

"Naruto!" Asuna yelled in surprise, "What the heck are you doing?"

The cook rolled his eyes as he said simply, "I'm cooking dinner for the three of us, what does it look like I'm doing?"

Asuna's mouth continued to stay open as Konoka just smiled, "Why thank you Naruto-sensei. I wouldn't have minded cooking though."

"It's alright. I don't mind cooking either. I always cooked for my family back at home. Besides, it's your first official day of school so I decided to do something nice for my roommates. Now Konoka-chan, Asuna-chan, are you going to stand there all day or are you going to get changed and eat some dinner?"

Konoka nodded and dragged the still shell-shocked Asuna into their bedroom to change.

"Are you kidding me Konoka? He can cook?" Asuna asked incredulously.

"Apparently so," Konoka said with a slight giggle.

"Is he trying to poison us or something? I swear he gave me the evil eye during class today."

Konoka seemed to seriously ponder this before breaking out into another smile, "I doubt it. I mean it smells delicious. Anything that smells that good can't be poisoned."

Asuna just looked at her friend with unbelieving eyes at this flawed logic.

* * *

As dinner ended, Naruto loudly belched.

"Ah excuse me," Naruto said with one hand on his stomach.

"Naruto no baka!" Asuna yelled, "Get some manners. Sheesh."

"It's okay, Naruto-sensei," Konoka said, "Asuna's just a little grumpy that you cook so well."

"Is that so Asuna-chan? Oh, and Konoka, please don't call me sensei outside of class, I'm your age. That just makes me feel old, although I think Asuna-chan's already started it."

"Okay Naruto-kun," Konoka replied happily.

Naruto put the bowl in the sink as he walked to change while the girls finished eating. He was dressed in a black and orange hoodie and simple jeans and tennis shoes, as he got ready for the Dean's job. As he moved to leave the dorm, Konoka called out to him.

"Naruto-kun, where are you going?"

"Oh, I have to see the Dean for something. I'll probably be a little late, so can you wash the dishes and go to sleep without me?" he replied as he walked out the door.

"Wait! Naruto!" Asuna called out.

"Hmmm?"

"Thanks for the meal, it was good," she grumbled out.

Hearing this, Naruto broke into a grin.

"Anytime, Asuna-chan, anytime. I hope we can be good friends."

Asuna thought to herself, _'Maybe Naruto isn't so bad…'_

* * *

Naruto headed to the Dean's office for the third time that day, waiting to hear his instructions and to find out who exactly this partner of his was. However, when he entered, the only person he could see was the Dean himself, sitting in his chair and idly filling out some forms.

Looking up, he said, "Naruto-kun, welcome back! All I really need you to do today is just walk around the lake for a little bit, see if you can find the source of the student's discomfort. It could be something, it could be nothing, but I don't want to take any risks with this, especially since it's the first day of classes."

Naruto nodded and asked, "What about my partner? You said I'd be working with someone else during this time."

"Oh that, she said she'll be running a little late. She'll catch up with you a little later, or so she says. She's a bit of a wild card, so you might want to keep on your toes around her."

Naruto wondered about this mysterious girl he would be working with and walked out, barely catching the magical presence of another person. Ignoring the feeling, he walked on, not very concerned about the Dean and headed towards the lake.

Walking out of the shadows after Naruto left, a young girl, looking no more than the age of ten appeared. She had deep, sapphire eyes and long blonde hair. Her teeth were longer and sharper than normal humans, and her entire demeanor was one of caution and suspicion.

"So Naruto-sensei didn't notice me? What kind of mage is he?" the girl scoffed.

"Mah, Evangeline-san, I think he did. He seemed to hesitate just a second before leaving the room," the Dean said with a small grin.

"Oh really now. Maybe he'll be worth my time. By the way, what information do you have on him?"

"Oh ho! What is with these questions Evangeline-san? Curious about your new teacher?"

Her eyes narrowed at this as she hissed, "I'd like to know exactly who I'm working with who already earned such notoriety from you."

What she failed to mention, was how Naruto seemed so familiar to her, almost like a lost memory.

"Well I suppose that's a reason if any. Let's see here," he said as he pulled out a manila folder, "Uzumaki Naruto, date and place of birth unknown, lived in Wales at the age of 5 until he later moved to an area near London to study magic, later becoming the Headmaster's apprentice. The village in Wales where he lived was attacked by demons and was practically decimated by them. Well-versed in many types of magic and, as it seems, has skills beyond magic as well. He could be classified as a Mage Knight. Other than that, we don't know really know much about him."

Evangeline thought this information was extremely vague, and vowed to figure out more about her enigmatic teacher.

"Should I go now?" she asked.

"Truth be told, you won't really need to be there at all, because I have an idea exactly who is causing these chills. Nevertheless, you can go check up on him later on, since you'll probably work with him a little bit more in the future."

She nodded at this while asking herself exactly how important this Naruto person was if he was strong enough to help her, the centuries-old vampire.

* * *

'_I've walked along the lake shore at least twice already, and I can't find a thing,'_ Naruto grumbled.

Deciding to stop for a bit, he leaned against a nearby tree, whistling a tune to himself once again. The moon reflected off the lake, its yellowish hue illuminating the waters as the reflection would shudder a little at the slightest wind. Naruto looked up at the moon, similar to back when he was a child, and lost himself in thought. A few minutes later, he noticed a figure out of the corner of his eyes. Thinking it was a student, he decided to try and surprise the young girl by using _Shunshin_ to teleport to the tree behind her. The girl seemed a bit odd to Naruto, almost ethereal, but he continued with his little prank. Silently sneaking towards her, he leaped up with a loud yell…

…only to pass right through her.

"Wha? What just happened?" Naruto exclaimed as he rubbed his sore head.

He looked up at the girl he was trying to scare, only to notice she was completely transparent, like a projection instead of made of actual flesh and bone. Her hair was a snowy white with a tinge of blue and her eyes were deepest shade of crimson. She wore an old-style uniform, complete with a scarf tied in a little ribbon in front of her, like a sailor. She had a worried expression as she looked at Naruto.

Of course, Naruto noticed as he screamed loudly, "Oh my God! It's a freakin' ghost!"

The girl's eyes widened as she realized Naruto was talking about her. She immediately tried to calm Naruto down.

"Naruto-sensei! Calm down! I'm not going to hurt you!" she exclaimed loudly, trying to overpower his screams of terror.

Naruto quickly quieted down as he realized that the odd ghost-girl had said his name.

Taking a deep breath, he yelled in even greater panic, "And she knows my name! I'm doomed to be haunted by a ghost forever now!"

The girl, giving up all pretenses, just yelled out in the loudest voice she could muster, "Calm down!"

Naruto looked fearfully at the girl but clammed up.

"Much better," she said with a grin until her eyes started watering and she leaped onto… er… into Naruto in a pseudo-hug, despite the fact her arms sunk into his own slightly and her feet were nowhere to be found.

He shivered at the odd contact, but tried to calm the now sobbing ghost.

"Eh, there, there, odd… ghost… girl. Stop crying… please?"

Eventually, the girl's sobs slowly turned into slight sniffles.

She looked up and, with eyes still moist, said, "You're the first person to notice me. Every year, at the beginning of the school year, I walk around this lake hoping someone would notice me, but you're the first one to notice me!"

"So you're the one causing the students to feel those chills as they walked by," Naruto deducted.

The girl nodded, "I didn't mean to though, I just really wanted a friend to talk to, but no one could see me. I'm so glad to have met you Naruto-sensei!"

"Eh, that reminds me. How do you know my name?"

"Oh! You know the name you almost said during roll call? Aisaka Sayo? That's me!" she said cheerfully, pointing to herself.

"Whoa, I thought that was a joke," Naruto muttered, but upon seeing the girl start to tear up again, said, "But I'm glad it wasn't."

Wiping away her tears, Sayo asked tentatively, "Ano, Naruto-sensei, will you be my friend?"

"Of course I will! Even if no one else sees you, I'll be your friend! And we'll make sure you find other friends too."

"Thank you Naruto-sensei!" Sayo said as she rushed to hug Naruto again.

Unfortunately for her, she went right through him.

"I still haven't gotten used to that," Naruto said to himself, "What do you do when you don't have class then?"

"Usually, I just float around in class, finding things to amuse myself with."

"Err… how do you do that when you can't really touch anything?"

"Hehe," Sayo giggled, "I can still move stuff telepathically if I concentrate really hard."

"Oh I see. Wait, did you say telephatically?"

"Mhmm!"

To prove her point, she pointed her finger at a pile of leaves and squinted hard, causing the leaves to float in a small clump.

"Whoa! That's pretty cool!" Naruto exclaimed, "You have to show me some other tricks sometime!"

Sayo nodded, but she felt another presence approaching. She recognized who it was and in fear, immediately faded out of visibility.

"Eh? Sayo-chan? Where did you go?" Naruto asked.

"Oh I just remembered," her voice sounding out of nowhere, "I have something to do! I'll see you in class tomorrow Naruto-sensei!"

With a nervous chuckle, Sayo drifted back to the classroom.

'_Man, I wanted to talk with Naruto-sensei some more,' _Sayo thought, _'But that Evangeline girl scares me.'_

Seeing someone else approach him, Naruto got into a basic taijutsu stance in case an enemy popped out. Much to his surprise, he saw one of his students, Evangeline A.K. McDowell.

'_I wonder what she's doing here,'_ Naruto pondered.

Meanwhile, Eva was heading towards Naruto, deciding to finally leave and get to know the enigma known as Uzumaki Naruto. She still could not figure out why Naruto-sensei seemed very familiar to her or why he was so important to the Dean. What she did notice, however, was the ghost from the class she had just joined.

'_Bah, I must've scared the foolish ghost,'_ Eva thought, _'This entire class is completely beneath me, why did the Dean make me take this class? I'm already a security guard to this accursed school. Stupid Nagi dying and making me stay here.'_

* * *

_Standing in the Dean's office, exactly a week before classes were to start, was Eva, waiting for the reason as to why she was being summoned to the office. She never found a reason to enter unless she really needed something, or if she had something to report. However, the Dean had sent a letter telling her to come to his office about a new assignment or something._

"_So Eva-san, you're probably wondering why I called you here," the Dean said._

"_It might've crossed my mind," she said with a bored expression on her face._

"_I have an important assignment for you. This class," the Dean said, pulling out a class roster, "has some very important people. My granddaughter, a princess, and a mercenary to name some people."_

"_Yeah, so?"_

"_I need you to join this class and help keep the kids safe."_

"_WHAT? You want me to help out in the class as a student? I'm hundreds of years older than them!" Eva yelled._

"_I know, I know. But I really need someone to watch over them, at least in the background."_

"_You do realize that the only thing keeping me here is Nagi's spell right?"_

"_Yes I know, but while you're here, why not help these kids stay safe? I have a feeling that this class will be a bit more exciting than you might think."_

_Eva sighed, but complied nevertheless, saying, "Fine, I'll join your little class, under two conditions."_

"_What are these conditions?"_

"_First, I want a partner to help me work, but not a human. They bore me sometimes."_

"_Hmm, that could be a job for those two geniuses, Chao Lingshen and Satomi Hakase, in the new class. I can probably request them to come a day or two early with a robot. From what I remember I believe they have some knowledge about magic as well, and it'll be a good chance for them to get to know each other. Yes, I believe they have the ability to create it. What is your second condition?"_

"_I want everything you know about the Thousand Master," she said, smirking._

"_Why would you want that?" the Dean asked suspiciously._

"_I don't plan to stay here forever. I want to see if I can find another way out of this hellhole. Maybe he has some children or maybe another spell?" _

"_Well, we don't have any of his own personal spells, but I guess I can give you what little information we have on Nagi-san," the Dean said, realizing he really had no other way to get Eva to listen to his request._

_A few days later, Eva answered the doorbell to her cottage to see a girl with two obnoxious ponytails sticking out and large, round glasses covering green eyes with a green-haired robot. It seemed crudely made as the joints could still be seen and antennas stuck out of her head, but for the technology available, it was a marvel to behold. However, if anything, the robot looked like Chachazero._

"_And who are you?" Eva asked quite rudely._

"_Hello. I am Hakase Satomi. I believe you wanted a partner that wasn't a human? Meet Chachamaru Karakuri, your new all-powerful robot partner and maid."_

"…_Tea-tea machine? Was that the best name you could come up with?" Eva asked with a scoff_

"…"

"_Well?"_

"_Stop complaining and accept her already. This was the work of Chao Lingshen and I. Although it was mostly me. Chachamaru will do anything you say as per the Dean's orders. We based her off of Chachazero, whom we got a picture of from the Dean. However, you'll have to drop by once in a while to give her a check-up. Also, here's a guidebook on how to use her. You need to be able to control magic and wind her up to function normally. Why don't you try it now, so that you'll get used to it."_

_Eva glared at the offending girl for telling her to do something, but agreed nevertheless. Channeling a bit of her magic, she winded up Chachamaru. Apparently, she needed to use less energy on Chachamaru than on Chachazero. The robot's eyes came to life and its mouth opened to speak._

"_Hello master," Chachamaru said, looking at Eva, "What may I do for you?"_

_Eva grinned, thinking of all the possibilities and jobs her new partner could accomplish._

* * *

'_Truth be told,' _Eva thought with a sigh, _'I didn't find much about the Thousand Master besides the fact that he had a son named Negi. No spells, skills, last testaments, anything. And now I'm stuck taking this class because I signed the stupid contract and agreed to the terms. The only good thing I got was Chachamaru.'_

Naruto waved to Eva with a grin.

"Eva-chan! What are you doing out here? Did you get lost or something?" Naruto asked.

In a flash, the blond girl disappeared and reappeared in front of Naruto, grabbed Naruto by the shirt and dragged him down.

"What did you just call me?" Eva steamed, "Know your place, you child."

Naruto started sweating a little at this, surprised at the little girl's strength.

"If you must know," she continued, "I am your partner, and before you ask, I am much older than you can fathom child."

The blond teacher looked questioningly at the seemingly ten-year-old child.

"You look a lot younger than me, that's for sure," Naruto said.

Eva sighed at this, "I'm over seven hundred years old. I highly doubt you're that old, _sensei_."

Naruto could have sworn his ears were not working again, like back in the Dean's office.

"What did you say? For a second I thought you said you were over seven hundred years old."

"Yes," Eva emphasized, "I am much older than you. That means I am your superior in every way outside of class. I doubt your magic could reach my level either."

Naruto remembered that the Dean said his new partner could use magic and made the connection.

"So I'm supposed to be working with you? And for your information, my magic is perfectly fine. I don't know how good you are, but I'm a decent magician myself. Sure, I don't have seven hundred years of experience, but we make do with what time we have, don't we, Eva-_chan_?" Naruto teased.

Eva twitched in irritation, but to her credit, held it in.

"We are getting nowhere with this. I'm leaving. Hopefully, I won't have to work with you, the insufferable human, too much in the future. I know you already solved the little ghost problem, so I bid you goodnight."

With that, Eva turned around and headed to her cottage, anticipating Chachamaru's wonderful tea.

Naruto sighed at this, heading back to his own dorm.

'_Still, as snotty as Eva is, she reminds me of someone. Like an old friend from Konoha,' _Naruto pondered before discarding the thought, _'She does have one thing right though, I don't think we'll be getting along anytime soon.'_

* * *

As Naruto opened the door, he was surprised to see Asuna and Konoka still awake, despite the lateness of the night. They were sitting at the dining table talking about who knows what.

"Hey you two, why aren't you asleep yet?" Naruto asked.

"Well we were worried about when you'd be coming back, since you seemed to take so long," Konoka said, "Waiting's the least we could do after you made us that wonderful dinner."

Asuna, on the other hand, said, "It's not like I wanted to stay awake, but I'd feel bad if Konoka stayed up by herself."

Naruto could tell Asuna was lying, if her failure to make eye contact with Naruto meant anything. Still, Naruto felt touched at his roommates' actions.

"Thanks, both of you!" Naruto said, "Still, we should get ready for bed huh. I'll go get changed first and wait outside so that Asuna doesn't maim me."

"What was that you said Naruto!" Asuna yelled, but Naruto had already ran inside to change.

After Naruto got changed, he laid down on the couch, taking in everything that happened in the day.

'_First, I get a dorm with two great, yet violent, girls. Then, I teach a class full of girls who all seem to have odd quirks here and there. On the bright side, I made four great friends today, well at least I hope Asuna considers me a friend. On the downside, that Eva-chan looks like she'll kill me…'_

Lost in his thoughts, Naruto eventually drifted off to sleep, completely forgetting he had a perfectly fine bed in the room with the girls.

Inside the room, Konoka told Asuna to go tell Naruto to come back in. Grumbling along the way, Asuna went to the living room, only to see Naruto sleeping soundly on the couch, laying on his side with his hands as a pillow. Asuna softened at this, seeing Naruto so peaceful and happy.

'_He really is a great guy, once you get to know him,'_ Asuna thought before shaking her head, _'Gah, what am I thinking? He's a baka. Still, a great friend though.'_

Reaching this understanding, Asuna smiled a little; glad to have met Naruto despite their rocky start. Going inside to get a blanket, she told Konoka of the situation and went back out; draping the soft blanket over Naruto's sleeping form before going to sleep in her room. After the lights turned off, Konoka looked at Asuna with a smile, glad to see she was opening up to other people, especially Naruto, who looked like he could bring a little bit more light to Asuna's life.

'_This could be the great start of a great, new friendship,' _both Asuna and Konoka thought to themselves before drifting off to sleep.

Meanwhile, a few miles away, a loud roar could be heard as trees fell down amidst the orange-yellow tongues of flame and destruction. The silhouette of a large creature with two huge protruding horns stomped through a small area in the forest, each step creating a small earthquake in the immediate surroundings, before suddenly disappearing, with only the leftover chaos giving any indication of its existence.

A/N: Finally, the last exposition chapter! That means the next chapter will be the start of the first arc, or the start of something at least. Sorry it was late, but my uncle/godfather recently passed away so writing will be slowing down a bit with funeral preparations and mourning time and whatnot. By the way, Evangeline doesn't use "boya" much yet because of how she has yet to be extremely close to Naruto, although I might just save it for Negi alone, since he's more of a boy than Naruto.

To answer some questions/reviews from the anonymous people:

Naruto's early arrival will greatly affect some of the bonds in canon, yet most of the bonds will still happen, and before you say anything, the girls did bond before Negi, but only in their small groups and not as much as a class per se.

I'm not too sure about late-comers of Chao and Eva, but I tried to cover it as best as I can, but inevitably, I made all the students come on the first day, although I tried to (or will) make it plausible as to why in revealing some of their backstories later. Ah the joys of fanfiction, you can fib the truth a little.

I have been following the grade system of 1-A, then 2-A, then 3-A, and such, so don't worry. As a note, I don't think I'll be using another word for chakra unless someone can refresh me on what the word was. And no, Naruto does not yet know Kage Bunshin, and will not for a while. He knows only basic ninja skills (although I don't think _Shunshin _is basic, but I'll give him that one).

In terms of Naruto's style, it is similar to Nagi's style in that he utilizes both normal fighting and magic, especially close range, although he is proficient long range as well.

Regarding _Magicus Defendo et Spes_, the background for Naruto's key phrase will be revealed soon enough when it's important, but for reference, it literally means _Magic: To support/protect and hope._

For romance, this will probably not be a harem in the sense that Naruto ends up marrying all the girls or something. It could happen, though, I won't throw it out, but the chances of it happening are extremely slim. I'm going more for a love polygon kind of situation. Also, regarding how the girls aren't blushing and going all googly-eyed for Naruto is for two reasons. One, it is their first day so they're more worried about other things, and two, I find that to be not very realistic. Sure, some girls may do that, but not all girls, and I refuse to do it as such. Naruto will have to build relationships with his students like everyone else, and to get the girl, he'll have to charm them over time as well. While this is fiction, I will try my best to make the budding romance as realistic as possible. This is why Naruto does not get all the girls blushing all at once and whatnot. I'm taking a more slice of life routine. Also, please don't expect Naruto to be all suave, because Naruto has very little experience with girls. Most of his life has been dedicated to studying magic and helping others, so he won't be good with the girls, and so he'll be struggling with it as well. Nor will extremely perverted things happen (although a few accidents may occur, but only when realistically possible), because I don't particularly like writing like that nor am I skilled like that. I prefer it being a little bit more realistic in terms of romance, with occasional inserts of craziness.

Finally, I'd like to apologize for the lack of direction currently because of the lengthy exposition, but hopefully you can see it narrowing a little bit more as the exposition closes with this chapter. I'm a firm believer in having a strong foundation to start with, so the story took a little while to build momentum. Again, if you see any mistakes, plot holes, or random errors please tell me in a message or review, and I'll try to address it the best I can. Hopefully, I'll improve and create new, better chapters as the story progresses, because as an author, I grow with my works. Hope to see you all next chapter!


	7. Chapter 6

Quick edit of last chapter: You may have noticed Setsuna's presence in the last chapter, but she is supposed to transfer in later on, and so I have removed it. As a result, she will appear in this chapter instead. Yay author power.

"…And another local fire has been reported in the western part of the forest in the Arashiyama district of Kyoto," the TV droned before Naruto turned it off.

Two weeks had passed without incident in his life, barring the exciting meeting with Sayo. The Dean did not have any jobs for him either, telling him to focus on teaching the students and getting to know them better. Truth be told, his life had a simple routine currently. He would spend the morning and afternoon teaching his class and handling his homeroom, then prepare dinner (compromising with Konoka to let her cook breakfast), and then prepare a lesson plan. Still, he needed to practice his magic and do some physical activities soon or else he would get out of shape.

Immediately, Naruto decided on his next course of action. Konoka and Asuna, after eating dinner, had decided to go and take a bath. While Naruto had to go to the school bath as well, he usually went during his free period, avoiding any incident thus far. Closing the door to the dorm behind him, Naruto set out to look for a place to train, away from prying eyes.

He walked along the path down into the forest, thinking about the events of the day to himself, and remembering passing back the results of the diagnostic test for the class.

* * *

"_Alright class!" Naruto said, "Here's the diagnostic test you guys took on the second day of school."_

"_I still don't get why the heck we had to take the stupid test in the first place if it's not going to count," Asuna grumbled._

_Half of the class sighed in annoyance, already used to Asuna's complaints throughout the class._

"_I told you already, the school needs to know exactly what weaknesses you guys have as a class so that I, the teacher, can cover them during lessons," Naruto replied for the umpteenth time that week, "You don't want me to teach you stuff you already know do you?"_

_Looking up from passing the papers, Naruto saw half of the class nod. He sweat dropped, realizing that he was talking to teenagers like him, infamous for being lazy and avoiding whatever learning they could._

_The results of the diagnostic test ranged in a bell curve, most of the class doing okay, while some were amazingly smart. Others, however, lacked the dedication._

_Chao Lingshen, for example, was a surprisingly smart student despite her interest in food. She scored consistently high on the tests. However, there were specifically five students who scored horribly, Asuna, Ku Fei, Makie Sasaki, Kaede Nagase, and surprisingly Yue._

"_Some of you did great, like Chao-chan here," Naruto explained as Chao smiled graciously at the compliment, "However, some of you did terrible, like you didn't even try."_

_At this, Naruto glared specifically at Asuna, the one who had complained the entire time about taking the diagnostic test in the first place._

"_Luckily for you, these grades don't count, so I won't hold you against it too much," Naruto continued, "But if you don't get those scores up, there'll be hell to play."_

_Asuna's eyes narrowed, and said, "What do you mean hell? You can't do anything to us, we're students!"_

"_Tch, I know I can't do anything, but if the class average is too low, that makes me look bad, and you know what that means?" Naruto asked with a large, ominous grin._

_The ever-so-innocent Makie asked, "What does that mean Naruto-sensei?"_

"_Let's just say, you won't have much free time with all the work I'll make the class do."_

_Immediately, the class shuddered. Sure, Naruto was their age and seemed innocent enough, but when he turned into a scary, sadistic mode, no one in the class dared to question him._

* * *

Naruto chuckled at that thought. Truth be told, Naruto had no clue how he could improve the class average, and the only reason his "scary, sadistic" mode existed was from what Hokage jii-san always told him whenever he misbehaved in the village. Still, he resolved to talk to the girls soon enough, but he could tell they would be stubborn.

'_They're like those Super Sentai characters on TV,' _Naruto thought, _'Fighting all their might against the horrors of studying. Haha, the baka rangers.'_

Of course, Naruto knew that he would probably be a part of the group if he had not learned English back with Nekane. If it didn't have to do with magic or training, Naruto was very undedicated to it, almost to a fault. When he asked Yue about her scores, something that Naruto did not expect, she merely shrugged and shook her head. With a worried look, Naruto had dropped the topic.

Wandering around, looking for a proper place to train, Naruto saw a small cottage.

'_Hmm, I never saw that before.'_

Curious, Naruto knocked on the front door. A few minutes passed as no one seemed to enter the room. Preparing to open the door himself, it opened and revealed none other than his own student, Chachamaru Karakuri.

"Naruto-sensei," Chachamaru said dully, "What are you doing here?"

"Eh? Chachamaru-chan? Do you live here or something?"

"Yes, I take residence here with my master."

"…Your master?" Naruto asked, clueless, "How can you have a master?"

"My master is Evangeline-sama," Chachamaru said simply.

"Oh I see," Naruto said before realizing exactly what his student had said, "Wait, NANI?"

"Would you like some tea sensei?"

Without waiting for his response, Chachamaru turned around and walked back into the house. Naruto, unsure of what to do, followed her in and sat at the offered seat.

"My master will be out in a minute," Chachamaru said.

"Wait! I don't need to see…" Naruto started, but Chachamaru had once again headed away.

Waiting, Naruto looked around the furnished cottage. It was quite large, if excluded from the rest of the campus. It seemed to take on a somber mood, however, furnished with few bright things. Still, Naruto expected this from the quiet and mysterious Eva-chan. She never spoke in class, and seemed uninterested in everything that occurred.

"Nice house huh?" a small voice said out of nowhere.

'_Where did that voice come from?'_ Naruto yelled in his head as he looked around, searching for the source of the voice.

However, Naruto saw no living thing that could have talked. Looking left and right, the only significant things were a few decorations.

"Look down dum-dum," the voice said again.

Naruto looked down to see a small doll that looked almost like Chachamaru, complete with antennae accessories (because of course Chachamaru's couldn't be real) and green hair. Red wings sprouted from her back, however, and she seemed to have a manic grin to her.

"Hey you found me!" the voice said again.

His eyes widened at this, picking the doll up.

"What are you?" Naruto asked in wonder.

"I'm insulted. I'm not a what. I'm a little girl, who just can't move and looks like a doll," the doll said lamely.

"Uh-huh," Naruto nodded nervously, "And what's your name?"

"Chachazero," she said cheerfully.

"So kind of like Chachamaru, but not? Is that why you look kind of like her?"

"Nope, it's the other way around. She's designed to look like me," Chachazero said cheekily, "Although her personality's the complete opposite. Absolutely no love for the blood, honestly."

Naruto twitched at that. Did he just meet a bloodthirsty, non-mobile doll?

"I see… You're an interesting… doll-person aren't you?"

Before any other words could be exchanged, Evangeline entered the room with a scowl on her face while Chachamaru came in with two cups of tea.

"I can't believe Chachamaru let this foolish boy in," she grumbled and upon seeing him asked, "What do you need?"

Naruto could tell Eva did not want to talk to him at all, but he was already in the room.

"Well, I didn't expect to be here. I just saw the cottage and decided to check it out. How was I supposed to know you lived here?"

"Tch, how annoying. Well, if you have nothing to do, then please leave."

Naruto immediately got up, leaving his tea untouched on the table, and spat out, "You're just as bad as those people from Konoha."

Eva's eyes widened at this, hearing the name of a place she had not been to in over seven hundred years. Before she could open her mouth though, a powerful quake shook the cottage. Naruto immediately went on alert and ran outside to find the source. Eva shook her head, clearing her thoughts, before following behind Naruto.

When they got outside, they were surprised to see a large, horned monster poke above the canopy of the trees in the forest about half a mile away.

"That's dangerously close to the school," Naruto muttered.

Putting his hand into the proper hand seal, leaves gathered around him until he disappeared into a swirl of them.

Eva's eyes widened at this, being only the second time she saw the technique. Remembering her promise to the Dean, she immediately called out to Chachamaru and Chachazero to help. She flew off, using _Melodia Bellax_ (Melody of Battle)to reach extremely fast speeds, as far as she could to the location. The robot heard her master's yell and grabbed Chachazero before flying off with her magic-powered rockets, following her master's back. While Evangeline should have used _shundou_, she did not know exactly how close the monster was to the school grounds, and Nagi's stupid spell kept her from leaving the grounds.

* * *

Reappearing, Naruto was put right in front of the creature. He was right in the middle of the forest, with half of the trees mowed down by the large creature. On the grass, the remains of a large magic circle could be seen, and Naruto could feel the residue magic of a summoning spell. However, this was forgotten as Naruto's eyes immediately narrowed at what the creature was.

"Demon," he snarled.

Ever since the attack on Wales by demons, Naruto held a powerful grudge against the monsters that took his old home away from him. In his anger, Naruto ignored using his wand and immediately pointed at the demon.

He screamed out, "Κενότητος ἀστράπσατω δὲ τεμέτω! Δίος τύκος" (Come forth from the void, O Thunder, and cut down my enemy! Axe of Lightning!).

Moving his hand in a downward motion, lightning immediately fell upon the demon. However, even with all his anger and his might, Naruto only managed to stun the creature. Grunting in annoyance, Naruto pulled out his wand to cast a stronger spell.

Right before he could, metal rockets, shaped in the form of a fist, smacked the demon and pushed it on its back. It was remarkable how such small rockets could take down the large, glowing demon. Looking around, Naruto saw Chachamaru with her arms raised and her hands missing. He stared questioningly for a second before making the connection between Chachazero's mention about Chachamaru's "design."

On Chachamaru's head was the doll, Chachazero, looking giddy with joy at the prospect of violence. A good five yards back stood Eva. Naruto was furious at this, wondering why Eva was not doing anything if she was so great and powerful like she said two weeks before.

Unknowingly answering Naruto's questions, Eva yelled out, "Pay attention child! The demon's getting up. I can't go over there to help you because I'm restricted to being only this far from the school."

Naruto frowned at this but quickly leaped away, right before the lumbering fist of the demon came colliding on the same spot. Apparently the fists hurt the demon as much as Naruto's Axe of Lightning.

Naruto quickly formed a simple plan. Trusting Chachamaru's battle prowess, Naruto yelled, "Chachamaru, cover me!"

Mildly surprised at her sensei's lack of the suffixes he always placed on everyone's names, she nodded and, with her fists once again attached to her arm, stood in a battle stance before leaping at almost impossible speeds and pounding away at the demon's thick skin. At the same time, Chachazero seemed to be running on the magic left over from the magic circle, pulled an extremely large sword, much bigger than her, slashing at whatever parts of the demon she could. The dull thuds could be heard as fist and weapon impacted the demon. It managed to stop it from moving, but Naruto's eyes narrowed at

"When I tell you to jump, do it," Naruto commanded.

Silently focusing on a spell, Naruto spent ten valuable seconds building the energy and pouring it into the magic. Eyes widening, Naruto visualized a blast of hurricane winds and lightning strikes focused into a raging tornado.

Naruto yelled, "JUMP!"

The moment Chachamaru and Chachazero cleared the area, floating in the air, Naruto let go of his magic, the tornado blasted the demon back nearly thirty yards, flying through the air before crashing into trees. Its large body broke down trees until the friction of the fallen arbor stopped it from sliding through the ground. Naruto looked on almost disappointedly, seeing that his spell was not nearly as powerful as Nagi's back during the attack on the village, although he supposed if he cast it with the incantation, it would have been much more powerful, but he needed to be able to tell Chachamaru to jump. Not only that, Naruto lacked the constant training he did that kept him in top shape.

'_Tch, if only I had trained in the past few weeks. All my magic's getting rusty,' _Naruto thought angrily.

Meanwhile, Eva muttered upon seeing the spell, "Jovis Tempestas Fulguriens (Jupiter's Storm of Thunder)."

Eva was surprised at the power Naruto displayed in casting the spell silently, knocking down the demon that far away. If she was at full power, she would have completely decimated the demon by now, but she was impressed at the human's ability. Her eyes widened, however, as the demon rushed forward towards Naruto, flames began to spew out from the creature's enormous, fanged mouth. Suddenly, a kind, smiling face of a young, blonde child with _whisker marks_, much younger than Naruto, appeared, and Eva felt an urge to protect Naruto.

Hand out, she screamed, "Limes Aeriales! (Barrier of Air)."

While not nearly as potent without the entire incantation or Eva's full power, it created a decent barrier around Naruto that protected him from the flames. He turned around, seeing Eva was the source of the spell. He nodded his thanks before turning back at his enemy. Closing his eyes and holding his wand out, Naruto began chanting while the demon was still trying to spit flames out at Naruto.

"Το σθμβολαιον διακονετο μοι, βασιλισκ οθρανιονον. Επιγενεντηετο, απολεια κεραθνε ηοσ τιμεισ πτειρει. Ηεκατονκατισ και κηιλιακισ αστραπσατο. Κηιλιαρκοθ Αστραπε! (Heed the contract and serve me, lord of the heavens. Come, titan-slaying blazing thunder. Hurl down thy lightning a hundred times and even a thousand times. Thousand Thunderbolts!)"

Naruto made a slashing motion, and small magic circles began to surround the demon. The demon had stopped breathing fire and was trying to move towards Naruto for a physical attack, but it was too late. Lightning sprung from the myriads of magic circles until literally a thousand bolts hit the demon. By the time the magic circles vanished, not a trace of it was left. Naruto, to his credit, was still standing, but breathing heavily.

Eva's eyes widened. While the attack itself could be cast by master magicians, to cast one of such power to completely vaporize the demon after a long battle was quite a feat. The last time she saw someone do this was the Thousand Master. Naruto was still rough around the edges though, as she could see the drain it caused on him as well as how he needed to wait until the demon was still before he could cast the spell.

'_Just who is this child? First he mentions Konoha, and now he pulls out powerful spells. That demon was no pushover, but he somehow managed to destroy it despite his young age,'_ Eva pondered, _'And more importantly, who was that kid that I just remembered? He looked exactly like Naruto, but I don't remember it at all.'_

Naruto looked around to survey the damage. Hundreds of trees were destroyed by the demon alone, and Naruto's own spells did not help calm the damage at all. Luckily, when the demon breathed fire, the flames destroyed much of the evidence of the battle, including the spell circle from which the monster was summoned from. From an observer's standpoint, it looked like a wildfire had occurred in the area.

'_This demon was much stronger than those who came to Wales. Who exactly summoned this demon? Either way, this has to be connected to the supposed wildfires that have been springing up lately,' _Naruto thought.

The fire was still burning in some areas, which meant the local firefighters would be coming soon enough. Running to Eva, where Chachamaru and Chachazero had already landed, he quickly liniked arms with Eva and Chachamaru, with Chachazero once again taking her place on Chachamaru's head.

"What are you doing?" Eva hissed.

"Just be quiet," Naruto muttered, making the necessary hand seal as they all vanished in a swirl of leaves.

The moment the quartet disappeared, a mysterious woman appeared with a frown. She wore large, glasses and had long black hair tied with a green ribbon on her back. Leaning against the nearest undestroyed tree, she looked disapprovingly at what had happened.

'_Tch, I need more power to summon a more powerful demon. If that's the best of my power, how can I destroy the Western mages?' _the woman thought to herself, _'And that kid. How did he manage to destroy my most powerful demon so easily, especially with Western magic? That was supposed to at least defeat a powerful mage, but a child beat it!'_

With a sigh, she walked back off into the distance, deciding to take a rest before retraining to improve her strength. One day, she would get her revenge on the Western mages…

* * *

The moment the four of them reappeared, Eva immediately let go and slapped Naruto's face. Chachamaru gingerly let go of Naruto, seeing he already suffered enough. He clutched his face.

"What was that for?" Naruto screamed.

"Next time, warn me about something like that!" Eva steamed, "If we weren't just attacked by a demon, I'd kill you on the spot."

Naruto's eyes narrowed, "I see. Well if that's it, I'm leaving then, I definitely need to go train, if today was any indication."

As Naruto turned around to walk away, Eva decided to be a hypocrite. She reached out and grabbed Naruto's arm.

"Wait, chil-, Naruto-sensei," Eva said.

This caught Naruto's attention as he stopped. He turned around and looked questioningly at Eva, slightly wary of her odd behavior.

"I need to ask you something, so please come inside," she said, tone slightly soft yet with an edge.

Without waiting for an answer, Eva walked into the room, followed by Chachamaru and Chachazero. Before Chachamaru went out of sight, Chachazero looked back at Naruto.

"You're not that bad! Although I could've used more blood," Chachazero said cheerfully.

With that, the two of them disappeared in the cottage, with Naruto trailing behind reluctantly.

* * *

Sitting around a small square table, with tea prepared by Chachamaru, Naruto looked suspiciously at Eva without touching his cup. They were all seated, Chachamaru, Chachazero, Eva, and himself.

"So, Eva-chan," Naruto said, knowing the suffix irked her, "what do you need?"

Eva twitched at the familial tone, but ignored it.

"Before you left, you said something about Konoha. In my entire seven hundred years of life, I've only been to Konoha once, and I know for a fact that it is not on Earth. Care to explain?"

Naruto gulped at this, realizing his mistake. He had not told anyone about Konoha barring Negi and Nekane. Even Anya did not know, nor did the elders at the village, although they did know he was from a different planet.

"Umm, can I say it was a mistake and you heard wrong?" Naruto chuckled out nervously.

Eva's response was a glare laced with killer intent.

"Ugh, I swear if you tell anyone…" Naruto trailed off, not knowing exactly what he could threaten Eva with.

"I won't," Eva said simply, "I'm merely curious about this place and exactly where you got your power from."

Naruto nodded and told his tale.

"It's true, I was born in Konoha and stayed there until the age of five, before accidentally teleporting with… a mage," Naruto started, deciding to leave names out of the story.

With that, he touched on his life in Wales learning magic. He mentioned having an older sister and a younger brother, as well as a close family friend. When he started talking about the demon invasion, Eva could sense Naruto tense up and restrain some anger.

'_It seems as if Naruto has a problem with demons from this now. That explains his anger when he battled the demon,'_ Eva thought to herself.

Naruto continued to describe his apprenticeship under the Headmaster at the Magic Academy near London and then his eventual arrival here. Eva was disappointed, she had not figured out why Naruto was familiar, only that he came from the same place she once was.

"Hey Eva-chan, out of curiosity, you said you'd been there before too right? How did you get there? Do you know how to get back?" Naruto asked excitedly, interrupting her thoughts.

"That's none of your business, Naruto-sensei. But it's been over seven hundred years since I've been there, and it was out of pure accident," Eva said, "Now please leave, I'm tired."

Eva pointed at the door, and Naruto, realizing he could find out little more about Eva's connection to Konoha at the moment, decided to bide his time and leave. Either way, he needed to find a training spot before the night was over as well as report this to the Dean. The fight with the demon made him realize exactly how rusty he was, and more importantly, how much more he had to grow to protect his loved ones. Whether he would admit it openly or not, the students were now his to protect, and he refused to let them down.

Making a decision, Naruto first headed towards the Dean's office to report his findings.

Seeing Naruto's retreating form, Eva sighed. What was it that made Naruto so familiar to her?

* * *

"I see," the Dean said, "The demon summonings have gotten closer."

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked, "You already knew about this?"

Currently, Naruto was standing in front of the Dean, reporting on his encounter with the demon and, with a completely serious look, listening intently.

"Yes, I've been keeping in touch with fellow mages in the area, keeping the demon attacks low-key. For now, the general public has believed it to be arsonists causing the fires and damage, either that or occasional wildfires. However, after hearing your account about how close it is to the school, it seems we will have to take action ourselves," the Dean explained.

Naruto nodded at this. The students had to be kept safe no matter what the cost.

"I would request for you to handle it, but you still have to handle your class," the Dean continued.

"But Konoe-san! This is more important than teaching the ki…" Naruto started, but stopped as the Dean raised a hand.

"No, Naruto. I'm completely firm about this. Trust me and leave it to the adults for now. Right now, you're handling a young class, so you need to make sure they're learning. You're still young, enjoy your youth," the Dean said.

The young teacher knew when the Dean was adamant about something, his mind would not change no matter what the pleading. Naruto relented, at least for the moment.

"I understand," Naruto said.

"That's good, now promise me you won't run off to find the source of the trouble."

Naruto's eyes widened. The Dean's warning tone sharply contrasted with the playful, happy tone he had when Naruto first arrived, reminding Naruto that the Dean's advice had much merit with his years of experience and wisdom.

"I promise Konoe-san," Naruto said, "I was wondering though, do you have any idea where I could train and practice my magic without being seen? After fighting that demon, I realized how much I need it."

The Dean seemed to think for a second.

"Have you thought about asking Eva-san? Her cottage…"

"NO! Absolutely not! She hates me!" Naruto whined.

Chuckling, the Dean remembered a certain spot.

'_Hmm, I don't think she'll mind sharing. It's not like she doesn't know about magic anyway,'_ the Dean thought.

"I have just the place," he said, "There should be a clearing in the middle of the forest a few yards east of the lake. As long as you practice there at night or so, you should be fine."

Naruto nodded, but before he could leave, the Dean had a few words for him.

"Naruto, something to think about. I know you use a wand, but you might want to start thinking about using other weapons as well. I know about your physical training, so you could probably use a weapon or combine magic and physical fighting."

Naruto filed this thought away as he walked out to find the clearing.

"That kid has a lot of potential. If he could learn a few more things, he could become the next Nagi," the Dean said fondly before going back to his work.

* * *

Heading to the place the Dean said, Naruto saw the clearing he was talking about. It was small clearing, a small, grassy field amidst the cluster of trees. Settling down right in the middle, Naruto sat down to meditate first after the long, arduous day. Looking at his watch, he saw he had another two hours before he should head back. It was an unspoken agreement with Asuna and Konoka that they would all be ready back in the dorms by ten, if only to spend some time getting to know one another. Well, more on Konoka's insistence with her deadly hammer. During the past two weeks, they grew almost like a family. Well, as a dysfunctional family consisting of the crazy, volatile sister Asuna, the mothering Konoka, and the slightly hyperactive, yet serious brother Naruto. Still, it was undeniable that they were closer than before.

Naruto, while meditating, did not notice the presence of another person approaching. The girl had shoulder length hair, and a good portion was tied off to her left side. She wore a practice hakama with a bokken hanging off the side. Her eyes widened upon seeing her sensei.

Said sensei muttered to himself, "Lux."

Immeidately, the area around him lit up with a warm, yellow light. Opening his eyes, he immediately noticed an odd girl almost smirking at him with her arms crossed.

"Umm… I was working on… using special effects!" Naruto explained horribly.

The girl merely looked at Naruto with disbelieving look at the blatant, terrible lie. Naruto was taken aback by the girl's look. It seemed as if she was a swordswoman of sorts. She looked hardened by intense training and battles, yet her alert eyes seemed to betray some inner turmoil that Naruto could not place.

"So you're a mage, Naruto-sensei," she said.

"Yes I… Wait, you know about magic? And how the heck do you know my name?"

Naruto had no clue who the girl was, and his hand immediately gripped the wand in his pocket.

The girl smiled lightly, even though it did not reach her eyes, and said with a bow, "Forgive me, I'm a new transfer student to your class. My name is Setsuna Sakurazaki, and yes I do know about magic, so you don't have to worry."

Naruto calmed down a little, despite being wary of the girl.

"A new student this early in the school year? You must be important or something," Naruto muttered.

Setsuna did not answer the question, but instead asked one of her own.

"What were you doing out here anyway Naruto-sensei?"

"Well, I guess since you know about magic, I can tell you. I've been training with my magic since I've been lacking practice lately," Naruto answered with a sigh.

"I see. I suppose the Dean told you where this place was."

"Umm, yeah. How'd you know?"

"He told me the same thing," Setsuna said with a smirk.

"Oh… well… do you mind sharing?"

"No, it's fine sensei. I'll just head to the other side of the clearing to practice."

Naruto looked questioningly at this, "What are you practicing?"

Setsuna looked at Naruto with a disbelieving look, "Isn't it obvious?"

She held out her bokken with an exaggerated wave. Naruto smacked his face with the palm of his hand before rephrasing his question.

"I meant how? Are you just swinging that sword or do you plan on doing something with it?" Naruto asked as he mentally winced. He hadn't meant to make it sound so harsh.

Setsuna rolled her eyes, but ignored the jibe.

"I practice a style called _Shinmei-ryuu_," Setsuna answered, "Would you like to see?"

Naruto nodded. Setsuna immediately got into a stance and went from one flowing movement to the next. The sword moved like an extension of her arm as she danced with her blade. Meanwhile, Naruto's eyes widened as he could literally see the potential strength of the sword, seeming like Setsuna was using magic to enhance her skills.

'_But it doesn't seem like magic, which feels different from this,' _Naruto pondered.

When she finished with her sword katas, she moved into a position where she held the sword with one hand and started using both in her ballet. When her free hand was open, it seemed to channel the mysterious energy, and when it was closed, it formed a powerful fist that melded perfectly with her style.

A few minutes later, she flowed to a stop and bowed to Naruto. Immediately, he clapped his hand in applause, amazed at the style. Even though it seemed to use a different energy than magic, the application of the ethereal energy was completely different and amazing.

"Setsuna-chan! That was awesome!" Naruto said.

Setsuna blushed very lightly at the praise as she nodded her head in thanks. Naruto then looked at his watch, and to his horror, noticed it was already 9:45 at night, which meant he had to hightail it back to the dorms before he faced the wrath of Konoka's hammer.

"It looks like I have to go Setsuna-chan, before my roommates decide to maim me for being late," Naruto said, "Hey, would you like to go meet them? I mean, they'll be your classmates soon."

"No, I'll be fine meeting them tomorrow," Setsuna said, "I'd like to spend a little bit of time by myself. However, you are welcome to come here to train at night whenever you want to."

"Thank you!"

Naruto turned around and headed back to his dorms. After he left, Setsuna let out a small sigh.

'_There's something off about him, but I can't exactly tell what it is,' _Setsuna thought, _'Whatever it is, I hope it won't cause trouble for Ojou-sama or myself later.'_

* * *

Busting through the door, Naruto panted heavily, asking, "Did I make it?"

He looked around, and instead of seeing Konoka or Asuna, he saw Fuuka and Fumika Narutaki, the twins, running around trying to catch Kaede Nagase.

"Teach us your ninja skills!" the pink girls cried out.

"Only if you can catch me de gozaru," Kaede said with a smirk, before realizing who was at the door.

"Err… hi! I think I've got the wrong room!" Naruto said with a nervous laugh before running out.

Kaede rubbed the back of her head with a questioning look on her face.

"Well that was odd de gozaru," she said before disappearing in a poof of smoke as Fuuka and Fumika tried once again to catch her.

Naruto stood in front of the correct door and looked at his watch. It looked like he was safe with a minute to spare. Calmly walking in, Naruto was immediately hit with Konoka's large hammer.

"Ow! What was that for?" Naruto exclaimed.

"You're late," Konoka said with a creepy smile while Asuna merely shook her head. They were already wearing their pajamas.

"No I'm not! I still had a minute…"

Naruto looked at the clock in the room, and it clearly said 10:01.

"Stupid unsynchronized clocks," he grumbled.

"So baka," Asuna said conversationally, "Where exactly were you? You seemed in a rush to get back."

"Oh, just doing teacher stuff, you know. Nothing you have to worry about," Naruto said, trying to avoid the subject, "Oh yeah, Golden Week will be in a week or so, won't it? Are you girls going to go back home or anything?"

Asuna's face immediately fell while Konoka looked worried for her friend.

"Asuna-chan what's…" Naruto started, before stopping at Konoka's worried shake of her head.

"No Konoka, it's alright. I'll tell him. Naruto, I'm an orphan, so I have nowhere else to go but to stay here," Asuna said trying to muster up a smile, "I think I'll turn in a little early today, I'll talk to you later Konoka, Naruto no Baka."

"Asuna-chan…" Naruto trailed off.

"Don't worry about Asuna. She's just a little depressed, but she'll be fine in the morning. It's been tough for her for a while," Konoka said, "Have you noticed how she gets up early in the morning?"

Naruto nodded, always noticing how Asuna's bed was always empty when he woke up despite his own early tendencies.

"She goes to deliver the paper to get some money to repay my grandfather, who's letting her stay here and learn here," Konoka explained.

"What happened to her Konoka-chan? That can't be just it. How did she get here? How did…" Naruto started to ask.

Once again, Konoka shook her head, saying, "When she's ready she'll tell you."

He understood this, remembering his own troubles back in Konoha.

'_I've got to talk to her. I've got to tell her that she's not alone despite her situation,' _Naruto thought to himself.

Asuna, despite her violent and crazy tendencies, had definitely grown on him. Not only that, after today, he realized that Asuna held a deeper connection to him than he thought, and he did not want anyone else to feel the loneliness and confusion that Naruto had felt back then.

"Hey Konoka-chan, can you clean up around here a bit?" Naruto asked.

"Hmm? Why?"

"I want to talk to Asuna-chan a bit."

Konoka looked surprised, "I think Asuna wants to be alone a little bit."

Naruto shook his head as he made way into the bedroom, "No, Asuna needs someone to talk to right now, and I think I know what she's going through."

However, she looked slightly skeptical at that, "You understand what she's going through Naruto-kun?"

He looked back, "Yes, I was an orphan once too."

* * *

Naruto walked into the dark room to find Asuna's form lying down, and faint sniffling could be heard. In fact, it broke Naruto's heart to see the strong girl so vulnerable right now.

"Hey Asuna-chan?" Naruto asked softly.

However, Naruto received no reply. It seems as if Asuna did not want to talk.

"Hmm, Asuna-chan, I know you're awake. I just wanted to talk to you a little bit about how you're feeling," Naruto said.

Feeling slightly ticked off, Asuna sat up and said bitingly, "Why would I tell you anything, you baka?"

"Because I know how you're feeling."

"Tch, there's no way you would know how I would feel. I don't know who my parents are, I can barely recall anything before coming to Mahora, and the only close friend I have is Konoka."

Naruto's expression hardened slightly, but Asuna could not see it in the dark. He sat on Asuna's bed, or what he hoped was Asuna's bed at least.

"I may not understand what it's like to lose my memory, but I know exactly how you feel for everything else. I haven't told anyone in our class about this yet, but I was an orphan too," Naruto said.

Asuna's eyes widened in the dark.

Naruto continued, "Ever since I was born, I never knew who my parents were. In fact, I grew up in an orphanage where everyone avoided me. I only had two adults that really watched out for me, but I had no one my age to talk to or play with. The entire village I lived in usually gave me nasty looks before completely ignoring me. I know what it felt like to be alone. I would always look on as little kids would play together, but whenever I tried to talk to them, parents would shoo me away, calling me a monster. I never understood why they did that, but it didn't matter. When I turned 5, I found people who loved me for myself, and I wasn't so lonely anymore. And that's why I'm here for you. You won't be lonely anymore Asuna-chan. You've got great friends like Konoka-chan and myself. We'll be your family. Memories? Sure they're important, but the memories we'll have together in the future will be even better."

Sometime during Naruto's monologue, tears had begun to spring from Asuna's eyes once again, hidden in the shadows of the night. When he finished his speech, he heard Asuna's sniffling and panicked slightly. Did he do something wrong? Unsure of himself, Naruto did what came naturally to him, and moved forward and hugged Asuna. Her sniffling became full-blown crying for a few minutes before she settled down, as Naruto awkwardly patted Asuna's head while holding Asuna close to his chest. Soon enough, she calmed down and slowly began falling asleep. Naruto laid her down on the bed and pulled the covers on her.

As he headed out of the door, he heard Asuna say, "Thank you, Naruto-kun."

* * *

Sitting outside in the living room, Naruto and Konoka talked a little about what just happened.

"Thank you Naruto-kun," Konoka said as they sat at the table.

Naruto looked oddly at Konoka.

"Why would you have to thank me?"

"Ever since Asuna came here, she hasn't opened to anyone else except for me, and I was getting worried. Sure, she's outgoing and loud, but it doesn't mean she's not hiding hurt. When you talked to her, you got her to open up a little more. Maybe with this, she can finally try to live a normal life and make some friends despite her past," Konoka explained, "Hey, Asuna's birthday is coming up. I was hoping we could have a small party in our room. I believe it's only two more days away."

Naruto nodded absently, "Should I invite other students?"

"Hmm, I think it should just be us three for now. Maybe next year we'll be able to invite more people, when Asuna gets used to this new life. Anyway, I'm going to go to sleep first Naruto-kun. I'll talk to you later."

With that, she walked into the bedroom. Naruto, however, was plagued with memories of his past after his little talk with Asuna. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Naruto followed Konoka into the bedroom, and he landed down unceremoniously into his bed after the exhausting day. Completely foregoing changing, Naruto's eyes began to droop as sleep claimed him, and the image of Konoha began to form in his dreamscape.

* * *

_A four-year old Naruto stood atop of the Hokage Monument in the afternoon, looking out into the village with a bored look on his face. No one had played with him once again. Hokage jii-san was busy with his duties, and Teuchi jii-san and Ayame nee-chan were trying hard to work during the busy lunch hour. Whenever Naruto was bored though, he would always come here and look out, his mind playing with his own wild imagination. Taking a deep breath, he imagined himself being a ninja, leaping off trees and running around on the walls. Of course, he was too young to even think about joining the Academy, or so Hokage jii-san said._

_Suddenly, Naruto heard an almost unnatural whooshing noise behind him. Whipping around, Naruto's eyes widened as a girl materialized in thin air, her hand holding tightly onto a small, glowing rock with eyes shut. Her appearance was odd, however. She wore a frilly dress of black and white, and her hair was a pale yellow. Her skin was terribly white, as if it had not seen sun since her birth. She looked around Naruto's age. With a worried look, Naruto went to the girl and shook her awake. Her eyes opened to show deep, sapphire eyes._

"Where am I? Who are you?"_ The girl said, _"The last thing I remember was taking this shiny rock from daddy's room before lights flew around everywhere."

_However, as far as Naruto could tell, the girl was speaking gibberish. It seemed like a foreign language._

"_You speak funny," Naruto said as he giggled._

_The girl looked around, surveying her surroundings. What she saw completely surprised her. The dull castle walls were nowhere to be found. Instead, her eyes were met with a large forest and smaller buildings that seemed almost exotic. Whatever writing she could see was not similar to the letters she had seen in her father's books. She began to cry loudly, realizing she was not at home, safe in her castle, anymore._

_Naruto's eyes widened at the tears._

"_No, don't cry! It'll be alright!"_

_This in fact seemed to make her cry more because she could not understand what Naruto was speaking. Not knowing what to do, Naruto did what he could, hugging the girl tightly and stroking her hair. Eventually, the girl's sobs began to subside, until she slowly pulled away from the hug with a sniffle._

"Thank you,"_ the girl said, but Naruto just looked at her oddly._

_Suddenly, a little grumble sounded as the girl blushed. Naruto managed to understand and pulled the girl along by the hand to Ichiraku Ramen Bar, which was not as crowded as before. As they were running, the girl slipped the mysterious rock into her pocket._

"_Ojii-san! Can you get a bowl for my new friend?" Naruto asked._

"_Naruto! You made a friend? Good for you!" Teuchi said, "Ayame! Get them both a bowl of miso ramen right away!"_

_When the bowls came out, the girl looked oddly at Naruto, as if asking what it was. They had both realized they would understand each other anytime soon. Naruto made an elaborate play of taking his chopsticks and grabbing a strand of ramen, putting it in his mouth. The girl tried to imitate him, but failed miserably. However, she did not give up, and after a few tries, managed to get a few strands in._

_The girl's eyes widened as she savored the taste. Immediately, she dug into her bowl with renewed fervor. Naruto smiled widely as he had found a friend who liked ramen as much as him, and began to eat ravenously as well. When they finished, Naruto thanked Teuchi and took his new friend back to the Hokage Monument. They sat next to each other as they looked at the setting sun. However, as the sun almost made it past the horizon, the girl's pocket began to glow a bright blue._

_Naruto looked at her as she pulled the rock out, which continued to glow. Suddenly, the girl began to fade slowly, and Naruto immediately started panicking. Within a few seconds, she looked like a ghost and was getting even fainter. The girl did not seem to notice though, but stared, mesmerized at the rock. By the time she realized what was happening, it was too late. Her eyes widened as tried to reach towards Naruto, but her hand phased through him. Right before she completely vanished, her mouth tried to form words, but all Naruto could make out was the sound "e."_

* * *

A/N: Whew, I was extremely late with this chapter. Stuff kept on coming up this week, I apologize. If there's any problems (which I bet you there are because I had to do this in multiple sittings, disrupting the flow), please drop me a message or review so I can fix it.

As a few notes: I'm sorry if Asuna's tearful moment seemed out of character, but keep in mind this is the first year of school, so she's still raw about being an orphan and not knowing her past. Naruto will be a big part of Asuna getting over this part of her life and make her closer to the canon personality. If you have any suggestions though, feel free to tell me and I'll see what I can do. However, just keep in mind that all the students are only on their first year, so their personalities are slightly less developed from their second-year forms. Oh, and sorry about the mistake with Setsuna. Apparently, Setsuna transferred in later at the request of Konoka's father, and so that's why she's made her debut now.

In case you're wondering about the timeline thus far…

The first day of school was April 5th (yeah, I just based it off of when the Japanese start school, which is in April).

This chapter takes place on April 19th (two weeks later)

And Asuna's birthday is April 21st (according to manga).

Just out of curiosity, would it be bad if Naruto learned Shinmei-ryuu? I'm looking into Naruto learning to use a weapon, or do you have another preference? Just out of curiosity. I'm still deciding on what to do about that aspect. That and out of curiosity, do you have any preference to Negi's pairing? Naruto's pairing is still undecided, but that I'm basing off of character growth throughout the story, since I have a few ideas. Negi though, would seem kind of tacked on, but do you guys have any preference? I suppose I could really build on Negi's relationships too if I get enough requests to.

On a personal note, I'd like to thank everyone who gave me their condolences for my uncle's passing. Your kind words really made me feel better and helped me get through. I sincerely thank you all.

Anyway, questions, concerns, comments, recommendations, please send a message or review. Thanks for reading!


	8. Chapter 7

Two days passed by in a rush. Konoka was busy pushing Asuna into doing various errands with her for her grandfather as Naruto stayed back in the dorm to set up some small decorations as well as cooking for the trio.

'_How did I get roped into doing the domestic work anyway?'_Naruto thought as sweat trickled down the side of his head while he stirred the pot over the roaring blue fire.

As reluctant as Naruto was to admit it, however, he knew that he felt kind of comfortable doing this kind of work. It reminded him of his time with Negi and Anya. Whenever Nekane was away, it was usually up to Naruto to do the housework, at least until Negi and Anya could grow up and handle things. And when Nekane was in her wheelchair, Naruto had to take care of the entire makeshift family as well.

Taking a long breath, Naruto thought back to the craziness of the past few days, including the election of Ayaka Yukihiro as the new class representative for Class 1-A.

* * *

"_Alright class, as you know now, as junior high school students, you must choose a class representative to lead you in daily activities and whatnot," Naruto said with a bored tone, "First of all, whoever takes this spot must be very responsible and must… yes, Ayaka-san."_

"_I would like to volunteer for this position," Ayaka said haughtily._

"_Thank you… for interrupting me," Naruto said as a large tick mark appeared on his forehead, "As I was saying, the class representative must represent the needs of all the peo… yes, Ayaka, once again."_

"_Sensei, I'm pretty sure no one is going to take the position, you might as well just choose me," Ayaka said with a grin on her face in triumph._

"_Hey, Bossy Ayaka, did you even think about the rest of the class?" Asuna grumbled out in annoyance._

_Naruto saw this opportunity and asked, "Would anyone else like to volunteer for the position so I can put it to vote?"_

_Seconds passed into minutes as silence permeated the classroom, aside from the breeze blowing in through the open windows._

_Naruto sighed in defeat, "Fine, Ayaka Yukihiro is the new class president."_

* * *

The cooking man sighed at the memory. That class always made him feel in over his head, especially when he had students like Ayaka, where he felt the class was less on his terms and more of a democracy, led by crazed girls with personalities that were way too potent to even have the slightest amount of control.

Shaking his head, he pondered more about more pressing matters on his mind. The Dean had yet to send him on another mission since the attack. What made matters worse was how he knew there was a problem with demons somewhere out there, and Naruto couldn't do anything about it. Even though Konoe-san said not to worry, Naruto couldn't help but try to understand what on earth was wrong with the world he entered in. Why would his old master send him here, where demons seemed to appear in his peaceful life? Was there some kind of mission? To make things worse, Naruto kept on wondering about the girl in his dream.

Naruto could honestly say that he never had that dream before, but he could tell that it was less of a dream and more of a memory. It was so vivid, and Konoha was exactly as he remembered it. The biggest thing plaguing his mind was why that girl looked so much like Eva-chan, except a lot more innocent… and even smaller if that was even possible.

A knock on the door threw him out of his reverie.

Konoka yelled loudly and very obnoxiously, "Naruto! We're coming in!"

Naruto sweat-dropped at this as he could hear Asuna complaining about Konoka being ridiculously loud for no reason.

'_Takes one to know one I suppose,' _Naruto snickered at the irony.

Naruto took of his apron and quickly laid out the presents on the table before waiting for them to come in.

With a quick look at Konoka and a nod, Naruto and Konoka simultaneously yelled out, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

Asuna looked around in confusion before realizing what had happened. Tears threatening to spill out of her eyes, she kept up a strong front as she took everything in. Despite all of the confusion in her life, she was at home with people who cared about her, and she knew it. Who cares if her life was a complete mystery to herself, this was the present, her own time, not the time of some mysterious past. With a large smile, Asuna eagerly hugged Konoka and Naruto.

"Thanks you guys, this is amazing, seriously," Asuna said.

Konoka and Naruto shared a knowing smile. They were glad to be able to do this for the lonely girl.

The night passed by quickly, with priceless moments simply flashing by their eyes. Times where the trio happily ate their delicious meal of hand-rolled sushi and miso soup, times where Naruto and Konoka laughed at Asuna's unwrapping of presents, and times where the three of them just lay on the sofa, watching the movie Konoka had rented out the day before in preparation for the birthday soiree.

As they all prepared to go to bed late in the night, Asuna hugged each of them individually.

"Konoka, thank you so much for this pencil case, it's so cute!" Asuna squealed lightly.

Konoka giggled along with her and bid the two of them farewell as Konoka went into the bathroom to brush her teeth before bed. Asuna moved over to Naruto.

"Naruto, I know you're supposed to be my sensei and all, but honestly, you just as much as a friend as you are my sensei. I know we started off pretty rough, but I'm really glad to have met you, even if you are a baka," Asuna said with a light blush, "And I wanted to say thank you so much for the bracelet."

He nodded and smiled, "You're quite welcome Asuna. I make it a point to be friends before anything else, and since we're living together, we might as well be family. Let's just hope for more great memories, ne? Anyway, I'm going to go outside for a bit, just go ahead and sleep first."

Asuna nodded and went to join Konoka in the bathroom, said bracelet still on her wrist. The bracelet Naruto gave her was a special one. It was a silver charm bracelet for Asuna to fill on her own, but Naruto included one small charm to start it off. It was a mandarin garnet, a gem renowned for its deep orange-red color, set in gold in the shape of a star. For Naruto, it cost a pretty penny, but it was worth it to see Asuna's delight.

Shaking his head, he walked outside to the clearing where he had met Setsuna to do some training before he actually turned in himself. Naruto frowned at the thought of Setsuna. It wasn't that the girl did anything wrong, but he sensed something off about her, as well as was a bit wary at her odd glances at Konoka as well.

While the simple fact that she knew magic surprised him, the odd feeling never left him, and it had nothing to do with magic. It was as if it had an out-of-this-world kind of aura, but Naruto couldn't place exactly what it was. She caused quite a stir when Naruto introduced the new transfer student to the class.

* * *

"_Class, settle down!" Naruto shouted, "Today, we'll be introducing a new transfer student. I don't know if you can actually call her a transfer student since the year barely started, but well, here she is. Come in Setsuna."_

"_Hajimemashite. My name is Sakurazaki __Setsuna _. I hope you all will take care of me," Setsuna said, bowing.

_Naruto noticed, however, that her eyes were focused on one spot instead of roaming the classroom, actually, focused specifically on Konoka, who's eyes were slightly wider than usual._

"_Thank you Setsuna. You can sit over there by Chachamaru."_

_With a nod, she immediately headed towards the spot, but as soon as she sat down, her eyes kept on Konoka's back for most of the class._

* * *

Shaking his head at the thoughts, he decided to go practice and just forget all of his troubles for a while. It wouldn't do him good to be stressing like this at his young age.

* * *

"You know,_" _Naruto began, "you should really get to know your fellow classmates more Yue-chan."

Sitting on the rooftop, Naruto was spending some time with Yue during the lunch period, since the girl seemed averse to talk to her fellow classmates and wanted to be alone. Naruto, refusing to let her do that, spent most of his lunch spending time with her as a result. Luckily, the rumor mill hadn't fired up much despite all of this time, mostly because Naruto never went straight towards the rooftop, preferring to use _Shunshin_ straight to the rooftop after finishing his classes anyway.

Yue, on the other hand, sat there, sipping her juice box as usual. This time, the juice box said "Potion."

'_What kind of juice is a called Potion,' _Naruto thought as he narrowed his eyes.

"I don't know why you try Naruto-san," Yue said, "There's no reason for me to make more friends when you're right there and won't leave."

"Was that a jibe from Yue-chan?" Naruto said with a hint of pride.

"No," Yue said with a deadpanned look, "It was a statement. Besides, people don't relate to me much, so why should I try?"

"You should try," Naruto said, "Because social skills are important in the world. Trust me, being quiet will only leave you alone even more. Sometimes you just need attention, you know?"

Yue remained adamant in her decision, shaking her head.

"There's more to the world than just books Yue-chan. It wouldn't do you good just to lose yourself in them all the time, as interesting and informative as they are."

"Since when did you become the wise leader of the world," Yue said with a light smile, "You're supposed to be the same age as us."

"Well, I'm a teacher for the reason you know," Naruto said with a smile, "but honestly, try. If not for yourself, for my piece of mind. You know, I heard some kids in the class talk about a library exploration club for the gigantic library we have in the school."

Yue just nodded, filing the information for later and they continued their amicable lunchtime.

When the bell rang signifying the end of lunch, Yue said her goodbyes to Naruto and walked back to her class. Thinking about the library exploration club, Yue looked around and saw the founders of the group according to Naruto, huddled behind a book as well. Nodoka Miyazaki, if she remembered right, sitting along with Haruna Saotome and Konoka Konoe.

Nodoka Miyazaki was a quiet person as well, with purple hair that completely covered her eyes. While she didn't talk much, she seemed to be able to spend some time with other people her age, if only be slight association. Next to her was Haruna Saotome, had a more bubbly personality with brown hair, although if you look closely, it looked a little green. She wore glasses that were rimmed on all sides except for the top. Finally, Konoka was… Konoka. The innocent girl with such a kind personality was her own personality in herself.

Nodding to herself, Yue strode purposefully to the three girls. Introducing herself, she found herself immediately accepted by the group and was engaged in conversation about her favorite books.

'_You know,'_ she thought to herself, _'maybe things will be even better now. Just maybe.'_

* * *

And get better they did. For the next few months, things fell in a simple schedule. Naruto would teach his classes, spend time in his homeroom, practice piano and magic, and spend some time with Yue, Sayo, and his roommates. Naruto felt a little left out sometimes, however, when he realized he was still a teacher, and thus had this barrier between his students and himself. He couldn't do anything though, because they were trying to understand each and get to really know each other.

Already, he could see small groups arise, like the small sports groups, made up of Yuna, Makie, Ako, and Akira. Even Yue, when she wasn't spending time with him, found a strong friendship in Madoka, the shyest girl in the class, and in light extention, Haruna and Konoka. Their club was flourishing, although how far they had actually gone towards exploring, he could never really know. Even Naruto had yet to step foot in the library, his time occupied enough by his own activities. Funnily enough, Class 1-A also had their own officially dubbed cheerleaders in these past months, made up of the peppy Misa, Madoka, and Sakurako trio. There were still more enigmatic characters, like Zazie and Chachamaru, but for the most part, everyone had someone, somehow, aside from Sayo, who spent some time with Naruto to make up for it.

The only problem Naruto had was with the newly-christened Baka Rangers…

* * *

_Naruto was handing back the results of the end-of-the-trimester tests for the first trimester before the long summer vacation._

"_I swear, you people are lucky," Naruto began, thinking back to the heat he received about his homeroom from other teachers, "This class has apparently not lived up to the standards of the school, but the powers that be, aka Konoejii-san, said that you guys are just starting up."_

_The class began noisily erupting once again, but Naruto took a nearby book and slammed it down._

"_Girls, listen, you guys have to improve, or it's my butt that's on fire. And I don't like that, not at all," Naruto yelled out, "Especially the Baka Rangers over there. You five need to improve the most."_

_Everything turned quiet as everyone looked at each other questioningly._

"_Ano, sensei," Natsumi Murakami asked shyly, "Who are the Baka Rangers?"_

_Natsumi was a small, quiet girl with freckles on her cheek with orange-pink hair. Naruto looked at the girl in question._

"_You mean you don't know? It's the five people with the laziest act I've ever seen," Naruto said with a scoff._

_Pointing accusingly at each girl in the group, Naruto yelled out with a dramatic flourish, "Yue, the Baka Black; Ku Fei, the Baka Yellow; Makie, the Baka Pink; Kaede, the Baka Blue; and finally Asuna, the Baka Red. They're like the Super Sentai group on TV, except they succeed in failing more than anything else."_

_The five girls felt their anger rise, and Asuna yelled out angrily, "Naruto! What the hell are you talking about?"_

_Naruto simply said with an evil smile, "Asuna, unless you want to tell the class what you got on the trimester final, you should be quiet."_

_And with that, class progressed as normal, although everyone resolved to try a little harder. Crossing Naruto-sensei was not a good idea if he could shut up Asuna with a single sentence._

* * *

Of course that moment had passed, and now Naruto was relaxing during the summer break. Sure he could've started on the lesson plan for the following trimester, but he felt lazy, and so he was sitting in front of the piano, playing some music. As he began to move his body to each note he play, slowly immersing himself in the music, Naruto heard a loud bang behind him.

Wincing, Naruto turned around, melody completely killed by the noisy intruder. Standing in the doorway was an angry Evangeline.

"God, I was looking everywhere for you child, the Dean's been calling us for the past hour, and I've had to run around looking for you, only to find you playing music!" Eva fumed angrily.

Naruto gently let down the cover of the piano and walked towards the Dean's office, ruffling Eva's hair along the way.

"Geez Eva, next time, you should just follow the music," he said with a grin.

"Follow the music he says," Eva grumbled, "To hell I'll follow the music, you idiot child. And don't touch my hair!"

Reaching the Dean's office, Naruto simply walked in, seeing the door open, with Eva trailing behind him, still grumbling.

"Ah, hello Naruto, I hope you've been settling down quite well," the Dean said.

"Yes, I think I've finally gotten over the fact I'm teaching girls practically my age," Naruto said with a slight glare of playful resentment.

"Good! Good!" the Dean said with a smile behind his beard, "Well it's time for us to go back to talking business. Do you remember what I told you to forget about?"

Naruto nodded solemnly, settling into a business mode, "Of course, how could I forget?"

Eva looked at Naruto oddly, wondering to herself what could cause Naruto to be so playful in one moment and serious in the next. He wasn't the one who had been living for centuries, and yet he had a maturity beyond his age.

"I've still sensed some disturbances, even though I've had some of the teachers deal with the trouble. I think it's time you stepped in as well, because damage control can only go so far without going towards the source, and now that it's summer vacation, students will notice your disappearance much less," the Dean informed Naruto, "You will be working with Eva and Chachamaru once again and heading towards the outer borders of the school."

"But Dean," Eva began, "What about the spell?"

The Dean waved his hand carelessly, "Don't worry about it, I've found a loophole, which will let you out, although it will weaken you somewhat."

"Wait what? A loophole? Why didn't you tell me about this earlier?" Eva yelled in surprise, "At least that way I wouldn't be stuck in this hellhole."

"The reason I didn't tell you was because I recently discovered it, and there's a time limit as to how long and how often you can get out. I couldn't just let you go out whenever you wanted to, you know," the Dean patiently explained.

Eva just grumbled silently.

Naruto made a few connections, "So there's a time limit as to how much time I can spend doing this, isn't there Dean?"

"Yes," the Dean said, surprised at Naruto's astuteness, "From all that I could find in the loophole, for now, you only have about an hour once you leave the border of the school. This is why I told you stay nearby, because after an hour's over, Eva will be pulled back, and I would think you should return as well."

Nodding, Naruto got ready to leave.

"And Naruto," the Dean warned, "Don't let your hatred cloud your judgment. The headmaster told me about your troubles, and while they aren't unwarranted, it would be better for you to be safe than be reckless."

Keeping the Dean's words in mind, Naruto went back to his room to prepare.

Eva looked back at the Dean.

"Honestly, what's wrong with the child? He's an enigma from a place that shouldn't even exist on this plane," Eva asked.

"That's something Naruto will tell you in his own time Eva," he said, "Now go get ready."

* * *

Flying with Chachamaru along with Naruto who ran towards the rumbling noise off in the distance within the forest, Eva pondered the question that was Naruto. Try as she might, she couldn't understand the slightest about this odd person aside from the fact that he was mature for his age, knew magic, some martial arts, and English, as well as how he was their teacher who made friends with odd people. For the life of her, who Naruto really was, besides how he was hiding something.

"Hey Eva-chan," Naruto began as he ran.

"What did I say about using that nickname peon?" Eva said as a twitch formed on her mouth.

"Whatever," Naruto said coolly, "did you ever have ra-"

"WATCH OUT!" Eva yelled.

Stopping suddenly, dropped down. A fireball flew right where his head was beforehand. He could feel the scorching heat literally grazing his skin.

"Demon," Naruto muttered darkly.

Looking back at Eva, he nodded his thanks and moved quickly forward.

"_Melodia Bellax,"_ Eva muttered at seeing his increased speed, "But he did it quickly, I'm surprised to see that out of a child like him."

Naruto, on the other hand, faced the demon head-on. The creature wasn't too threatening or anything, but it was a small dragon, about the twice the size of Naruto, with sharp, obsidian-like teeth, with scales the color of ash.

Standing right in front of the creature, Naruto yelled out, "_Unus fulgor concidens noctem, in mea manu ens inimicum edat."_

The White Lightning spell called forth a large, white electric bolt, striking the dragon right in the chest.

The dragon recoiling backwards, Eva saw her chance as she landed next to Naruto and yelled out, _"Jaculatio Grandinis."_ ("Hail of Spears")

As the dragon began to stand back up, ice spears materialized in the air and struck down the injured demon with immense force at the same spot Naruto struck moments before. The spot, giving away to the damage done by the white lightning, caved in and the dragon flew back by the force and lay lifeless on the ground.

"Aww, why did you have to injure the little guy like that," a voice called out.

Looking towards the source of the voice, Naruto and Eva missed the dragon's remains disappearing within a magic circle.

"Who's there!" Naruto yelled out.

Stepping out of the boughs of the trees in the forest, a young woman in a white dress grinned darkly. She had round glasses and a green ribbon tying her extremely long hair into a very lengthy ponytail.

"So you're the one who's been causing all this trouble," Naruto said.

"Of course, although you people are constantly hindering my plans, damn Western mages," the mysterious woman said, "Do you know how long and how much energy it takes to summon these demons?"

Naruto felt himself grow angry at this blatant use of violence and demons to cause harm to others. Before he could open his mouth however, he could see the mysterious woman pull something out from within her clothes.

"Whoa there, what are you doing there?"Naruto yelled.

The woman just smirked and muttered something. Suddenly, water began collecting on the piece of paper, marked with odd kanji, and froze into a large icicle, launching itself straight at Eva and Chachamaru.

Naruto looked worriedly at the pair, but to his surprise, Eva simply smirked.

She raised her arm and muttered, "_Malleus Aquilonis._" ("Warhammer of the Ice God")

As the icicle headed straight towards her, a titanic block of solid ice formed from her hand and shot itself at the icicle, breaking the icicle into tiny pieces and barreling towards the malevolent woman. Pieces of ice flew in the sky and embedded itself everywhere. Naruto barely dodged the ice himself through the wordless use of a wind shield, blowing away the splinters. Unfortunately, the woman had dodged as well, jumping away at the last second and landing safely in the branch of another tree.

"Hmm, that was amusing, but let's see how you fare against this," the woman cackled, "Behold the might of the great Amagasaki Chigusa! Third Charm Technique, Kyoto "Dai"!"

The newly dubbed Chigusa pulled out a leaf of paper and threw it at the ground. As she jumped out of sight, the apprehensive trio jumped out of the way of the papers, only to find themselves blinded by a large light. Standing at the origin of the explosion was a large, yet slightly cute, monkey with comically large eyes, and behind it laid a gigantic star made of fire.

"Is it just me, or does that really creep you out?" Naruto asked Eva and Chachamaru.

"Hey, stay focused child," Eva chastised, "It's coming towards us."

True to her words, the monkey headed towards them. Naruto could sense that it wasn't exactly a normal demon in the sense that it was summoned by a circle, but instead it seemed like a peon. It was a creature summoned to distract at most.

"What the heck is that?" Naruto asked out loud.

A disembodied voice from behind the fire said, "Enjoy my shikigami. And if you think you can get past that wall of fire, you'd be mistaken. Few people can get past this if at all."

Eva merely smirked once again, "You're sorely mistaken if you think this can stop us. This is easy play for Chachamaru."

Nodding to Chachamaru, the android looked forward and her eyes lit up.

"Power to eyes, one-hundred percent," Chachamaru intoned lifelessly.

Suddenly, bright lasers shot out of Chachamaru's eyes and shot straight at the shikigami. The monkey's eyes widened in fear, even though it seemed it was impossible to have any bigger eyes, and then disintegrated into pieces of paper.

"Sensors indicate that Amgasaki Chigusa has disappeared master," Chachamaru said.

Naruto chuckled nervously at the android's lifeless tone before nodding seriously to Eva.

Holding his hand out, Naruto looked directly at the burning fire and muttered, "_Ex somno exsistat exudans undina inimicum immergat in alveum. Vinctus Aquarius."_ ("Let the wave-borne undine awaken and appear now, submerging the enemy into the depths. Flowing Binding Hand.").

A cylindrical pillar of water formed around the area burned by the fire. More importantly, the oxygen within the pillar was drained out. Without oxygen to fuel it, the fire grew weaker, and then the water extinguished what was left as it collapsed on the remains of the fire.

Eva growled out, "Damn, that girl was annoying. And those humongous… ack. Never mind. That magic though, it appears she's more from the Eastern end of things, perhaps some relation to the Kansai group, although she could just as well be working on her own."

"Let's head back Eva-chan, Chachamaru-chan," Naruto said, "I have something I want to ask you two."

"Look, if it's about the whole Konoha thing, forg—," Eva began.

"No," Naruto said, eyes blazing and face uncharacteristically settling in seriousness, "I need to know. Otherwise this will bother me as long as I work here."

* * *

Elsewhere in the forest, Chigusa ran away from the forest, muttering to herself along the way.

"Damn those Western mages. They're always the wrench in the plan, just like back then. I will get my revenge. I need more power though. When I was wandering around, I heard how Eishun Konoe has a daughter in the nearby school around her. I still haven't had a chance to find her because of all the teachers and those two. For kids, they're just as much of a hindrance as the teachers, if not more. I guess I'll have to bide my time. Now, I need to hire some help, because I know those three had uniforms from the school, so chances are, they'll be wherever Konoka ojou-sama is. How about Fate-san…"

Continuing her musing, she ran back home to plot her next moves. She was willing to wait as long as it takes as long as she can get her revenge on those mages.

* * *

"So, what do you want to know boya," Eva sighed, "I can't help you if you're trying to do some extracurricular research _sensei_, I told you, I haven't been there in seven hundred years, at least."

Eva, Naruto, and Chachamaru were sitting around the table and drinking tea. Chachazero was still lying in her room.

"It's fine. I have two simple questions. How did you get to Konoha and what did you do there? And please, answer honestly; it might have something to do with my past. It's already bad enough that I'm asking you like this anyway," Naruto pleaded.

"I don't know child. What have you done for me that warrants this information?" Eva smirked

"You're joking right? Seriously," Naruto said with a growl, "I'm your sensei goddamnit."

"And I'm older than you," Eva stated, "But you don't see me complaining."

'_Even though I complain every day,'_ Eva thought afterwards.

"Hey, I see you thinking right now! You probably complain in your head or to Chachamaru all the time!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Correct. Master does not like you much at all," Chachamaru said monotonously.

"See?" Naruto said victoriously, "Wait, that's not right. Anyway, please tell me! I want to be able to visit back home and understand exactly what Konoha is like, now that I've been away for so long."

"Ugh, stop your incessant pleading, I'll tell you the story then," Eva grumbled out.

Honestly, she had nothing to lose, and so she described the whole story to Naruto.

"It all began back when I was a little child, literally a little child, not like I am now. This was over seven hundred years ago, before I even became what you see me as now," Eva began.

"Wait, what exactly are you?" Naruto interrupted.

"I am telling a story here child, it would do you well not to interrupt," Eva said, annoyed, "But to tell you, I'm a vampire. And before you ask, no, I'm not going to tell you how I became one."

"Oh a vampire… Wait a minute… A VAMPIRE?" Naruto yelled out.

"Yes, now calm down, or else I'm not going to tell you anything else."

Naruto quickly shut up, even though he was still a little apprehensive about being with a vampire.

"I'm not going to attack you or suck your blood child, I don't need to, so don't get your knickers in a twist," Eva smirked, "Anyway, let me continue."

"My parents were always interested in the occult, and I wandered into my father's study to come upon a bright star-shaped crystal. When my hand touched it, I transported to Konoha."

"Uh huh," Naruto nodded, "But what happened when you got there?"

Eva said, "Calm down. I don't exactly remember, but I remember meeting a few people and eating a meal there before the shard shone brightly once again before it transported me back home and then the light completely disappeared."

'_Eating a meal? In that dream memory thingy, I was eating a meal with that girl,' _Naruto mused to himself.

"Do you still have that crystal Eva-san?" Naurto asked, using the different suffix in the hopes of getting a glimpse of the odd rock.

"Oh, using –san now child? Fine, I'll show you this once," Eva said, going to her room and quickly coming back with the rock saying, "It used to have a lot more color and light. It seems like it only had the juice for my one trip."

The rock, or crystal as Naruto could see it either way, was a pale blue. A dull green star was displayed in the center. The crystal as a whole was like a star, except where the rightmost appendage of the star should have been, the rock formed a black lighning bolt extending away.

'_This rock! It looks like the one that girl was holding onto,' _Naruto thought, _'But it was a different color. And it still doesn't explain the time difference of seven hundred years that Eva said. Should I ask her?'_

"Hey, boya, are you alive in there?" Eva asked.

"Hmm? Yeah. I was wondering, when you went to Konoha, did you eat ramen?" Naruto asked.

"Hmm, I can't distinctly remember. It's been so long. I remember it contained noodles, so it was either that or udon," Eva began, trying to remember all the way back then.

"Do you remember sitting on top of a gigantic rock structure with people's faces on it? Not the Mount Rushmore thingy in America, but almost like it?" Naruto asked hurriedly.

"Yes, I do remember being awed by the large rock when I was a child," Eva said, "I think there were four faces on it, all male though."

"No way," Naruto said with eyes wide, standing up and backing way, "It can't be."

"Naruto-sensei, are you okay?" Chachamaru asked.

"No, I'm not," Naruto said, running out the door and into the forest.

Chachamaru and Eva looked at each other, wondering what had happened to Naruto to make him look so sad and worried.

'_It can't have been seven hundred years. Did Nagi's spell mess up and send me so far forward? Does time flow differently between the two worlds? What's going on? What about Teuchi ojii-san and Hokage jii-san? Are they all dead?' _Naruto's mess of thoughts continued to run through his head as he rushed away.

'_I know I said I could take years before I come back, but if seven hundred years have passed in this world, does this mean that Konoha's even more centuries older? Or has it only been as long as I've been? I'm so confused,' _Naruto said, _'And that rock! I need to take a better look at it.'_

Steeling himself, he ran back to Eva's cottage. When he reached the doorway, he could see Eva smiling.

"Have you calmed down now?" Eva asked, "I had feeling you'd be back, although I thought you would take a few days to recover. You've exceed my expectations, by just a little though."

"Sorry, I was having a mini-episode," Naruto said ruefully, "Can I see that rock again?"

Nodding at the table where the rock laid where Naruto had left it, Eva said, "Help yourself, I'm going to spend some time relaxing. If you need me, I'll be in the study."

As Eva left with Chachamaru trailing behind, Naruto held the rock in his hand.

'_I can't sense any magic coming from this anymore, although it feels like it could have held quite a bit of magic in the past,' _Naruto said, _'It seems like whatever energy it had really did disappear with Eva.'_

Going to Eva's study, Naruto handed the rock back to her.

"Thanks Eva-chan," Naruto said, "It seems the mystery is still alive yet. I'm going to go now, I'll see you in class later."

Eva looked at Naruto oddly as he left before nodding to herself. Looking at Chachamaru, she had an idea.

As Naruto walked back towards the dorm, he heard the sound of muffled clanking. Looking behind him, he saw Chachamaru running towards him.

"Hello Naruto-sensei. I was requested to give this to you," Chachamaru said.

Looking down, Naruto saw the crystal.

"Aw, Eva-chan cares about me," Naruto said teasingly, "Thank you."

Chachamaru nodded and then punched him hard in the gut, "I'm sorry sensei, but master requested also that if you said anything of the sort involving –chan or cares I would have to punch you. Have a nice day."

As Naruto struggled to get back up, Chachamaru walked away.

"Great," Naruto groaned to himself, "Nothing's like a punch in the gut. But this crystal, it might hold something that can get me back in the future. I suppose this means more research… ugh, theory work. I hate it."

* * *

A/N: Well, I guess I'm alive! It's amazing. I'm so sorry to the people who waited a year for this to come out. I almost gave up on it honestly, but I'm back!

I apologize so much for the long wait, seriously. It's been a tough year with college applications, college acceptances, dealing with stress and AP tests (which I managed to get all 5s on besides Physics, which I still passed anyway). Also, it's been a tough year emotionally, not only because of my uncle's death, but in December, my friend passed away in a car accident with a DUI driver, killing both him and his dad.

If I ever leave you guys with any message in this author note, it's please do not drink and drive or do drugs and drive or anything of that sort. Be safe when you drive, because even cars are a weapon if used improperly, and I learned that personally. If that person had been safe, I would still have my friend and he would've been there with my class during graduation, so please, drive safely.

Oh yeah, I graduated! I'm going to be going to university soon! Yay!

First of all, by popular request, Naruto won't be learning the sword style, although what he actually learns, you'll have to find out yourself.

I think maybe one to three more chapters will do before I bring it back to canon arc, unless you guys want me to do more of this stuff? If you want to, drop me a review or message, but I think I'm only going to be building more foundation for the overall story and build more relationships, which I can still do even if the story hits canon.

If there's any problem with the chapter, like plot holes, grammar mistakes, canon mistakes, please tell me and I'll see if I can fix it or if I meant to do that. It's been a while since I've immersed back in this world.

Anyway, questions, comments, concerns, etc, please drop a review or message!


	9. Chapter 8

Progress, the one thing Naruto lacked this entire time. In the case of the demon summoner, Naruto had no clue even where to start. He had tried to research the name Amagasaki Chigusa, but it came with nothing. He had a feeling that if he wanted to learn more, he would have to go to the Kansai faction and do research on magic there. All he really knew was that the girl used an odd form of magic called onmyōdō charms, which taught him nothing, besides how the woman could control elements. But even that was on the backburner for a while.

The biggest problem Naruto faced was the mystery behind the rock, which he decided to call a star shard, if anything not to get confused with another rock. It seemed like it could hold a lot of magical energy, and yet at the same time, any magic he tried to push into the shard was immediately dispersed into the air. It was frustrating, and Naruto had no clue where to go from there without any resources or connections to a magical library.

Deciding to give up for the day, Naruto put the shard back in his bag as he prepared to say goodbye to his roommates, at least for the week.

"Naruto-sensei, you should really stop looking at that rock," Konoka said worriedly with a slight pout, "It's taking up a lot of your free time and you won't even tell us why. You should tell us what's wrong and maybe we can help you."

"Yeah Naruto! You haven't cooked for us since my party!" Asuna chimed in.

Naruto chuckled at this, "Sorry, I don't think you two can really help me with this, but I'll try not to let it distract me anymore."

Naruto wasn't too worried about the news of the rock affecting his class, since most of his students were gone to visit their parents during the break, and Konoka said she would stay with Asuna since her dad told her to stay with her grandfather, the Dean, anyway.

"You two stay out of trouble while I'm gone, okay?" Naruto said with a light tease, "Especially you Asuna."

Just as Asuna was about to yell out, Konoka covered Asuna's mouth and said, "Don't worry Naruto-sensei, we'll see you when you get back."

As Naruto headed towards the airport, he could've sworn he had already heard the explosions coming from the academy, the source being their dorm.

* * *

Getting off the plane, Naruto was immediately accosted by Anya and Negi.

"Yay!" Negi yelled, "Naruto nii-san is back!"

Even Anya couldn't keep the smile off her face as she glomped her pseudo nii-san. The two had grown a little older and taller, although still, they were only 9 years old, and their immaturity still shone in spades. Nekane had obviously grown used to her legs, and when the two younger children let go of their older brother, Nekane came over and hugged Naruto.

"Hehe, hi Nekane nee-chan," Naruto said, blushing slightly at the contact, "Man, I haven't had a hug from you in ages."

"Glad to see you've missed us too Naruto," Nekane said with an evil smile, "We were worried you forgot about us when you forgot to send any letters for the past month and decided to be weeks late for visiting us. If it weren't for your last letter, we would've given up on you visiting over the LONG summer break."

Naruto felt his life flash before his eyes.

"I'm sorry Nekane nee-chan, but it's been very busy teaching the class, among other things," Naruto said.

"What other things?" Nekane asked sweetly with a glint in her eyes.

"Umm, ano… I'll tell you when we get back to the house," Naruto chuckled out weakly.

While this exchange was happening, Negi looked on in confusion, "Anya-chan, what's wrong with Naruto nii-san and Nekane nee-san?"

Anya looked on in pity, "Negi, consider yourself lucky. That is what people call 'being whipped'."

As they were walking back to the house, all Negi could think about was Nekane holding onto some invisible magical whip and attack Naruto with it without Negi being able to see it.

* * *

"Hmm, so that's what it is," Nekane mused thoughtfully, "You might have a way back?"

"Honestly, I don't know nee-chan, it could go either way. I've tried everything I could, and I still haven't found a solution to this or the demon summoner I dealt with."

Nekane narrowed her eyes a little at the mention of the demon summoner, but gave no other indication of hate. Anya and Negi were outside, saying the two of them had to stay inside because they were hiding a surprise from them that they weren't allowed to see.

"Can I see this shard?" Nekane asked.

Naruto reached in his bag and pulled the lifeless rock out. Moving it around in her hand, Nekane inspected every nook and cranny as if she were examining one of the patients at the hospital. However, she discovered nothing that could be of use. She tried powering it with magic like other artifacts, but it remained lifeless, and the magic disappeared from the rock. Sighing lightly, she handed it back to Naruto.

She said, "I have no clue where you can start with the demon summoner, since the magic you described sounds something more of the Kansai Magic Association and Eastern style magic instead of our style. However, as with the star shard, while we can't do anything, I'm sure you can talk to the Headmaster about it. You said you were going to visit him anyway right?"

"You're right, I'll talk to the old man later," Naruto nodded, "Anyway, what have you been up to?"

With that, Nekane and Naruto talked like old times, Naruto detailing his adventures at Mahora, ranging from the battles he fought…

"Wow Naruto, you're probably going to magic swordsman once your magic develops fully," Nekane quipped.

To the interesting confrontation with his past…

"Don't worry Naruto, I'm sure you'll figure this all out sooner or later. Besides, we're your real home anyway."

To his dorm and classroom filled with girls…

"Oh my Naruto, a whole class of girls, how do you deal with it… Wait, did you say you're living and sleeping in the same room with girls?" Nekane blushed, "Don't tell me you miss female contact, having slept with me all the time, albeit Negi was there too."

"Nekane nee-chaaaan," Naruto whined, "I'm doing it because I have to, not because I like it. Besides, I'm older now. I don't need to sleep with my older sister to feel safe."

"Aw, but I missed you Naruto-chan," Nekane cooed.

Sighing in defeat, Naruto tried to duck out of the conversation saying, "Let's go see what Anya and Negi have for us."

Nekane looked oddly at Naruto for a second before nodding. Knocking on the door leading outside, Naruto asked if they were ready.

"Yep! We're ready for you two!" both of them replied simultaneously.

Opening the door, Naruto was surprised to see a table set up outside of the room with Negi, Anya, and the headmaster sitting there. On the table were various dishes, ranging from freshly cooked rotisserie chickens, seafood cawl, loafs of bara brith (fruit bread/Welsh cakes), as well as some Welsh lamb. Naruto's eyes watered a little. Looking at Nekane questioningly, Naruto wondered exactly how two kids and an old man could do all of this.

"Okay, okay, the conversation was also to distract you. We've been cooking this all day and those two along with the headmaster help set everything up. Anya and Negi have been excellent helpers as well," Nekane admitted.

"What about me?" the headmaster asked with a pout unbecoming of his age.

"Of course the headmaster helped," Nekane said, but in a whisper added, "Not really."

Naruto felt overwhelmed by the feeling of love surrounding the table. It was a small family, of course, and while he may have little recollection of his past and what could have been in Konoha, he felt more at home than ever with this family. Laughing at the dinner table, Naruto could picture his life to simply be like this, spending time with the ones he loved, enjoying himself even though he had been gone for months already, and not letting anything ruin his day as well as his time with his true family, the makeshift one that Nagi had accidentally inserted Naruto into.

* * *

"So Naruto-kun, what else brings you to my office," the Headmaster said, "Surely you didn't just come for a courtesy visit."

"Ah Headmaster, you know me too well," Naruto smirked.

Pulling out the shard, "It's this Headmaster. Apparently this holds some method of transportation between dimensions, and… well…"

"You were hoping to see if you can use this to see what your homeland is like now?" the Headmaster finished.

"Kind of. This land, this world, this family will always be my home. But there will always be a part of me that will always be curious as to what could've happened; as to what I left behind when I came here."

"No I understand," the wizened old man said, "Unfortunately, it's not something I have much knowledge of, nor is this rock something I've seen before."

Pushing his magic into the rock, the Headmaster's magic met the same fate as the others had.

"This has potential, but that's all it is at the moment. It seems whatever magic was in here has long been used up, and this artifact is apparently a one-time use only, if what my magic indicates is true."

Naruto frowned at this but nodded in acceptance.

"However," the Headmaster continued, "You are free to use the resources at the Academy to find out what you need, and I'll send a message to the Dean at Mahora to see if he can give you some guidance. Their library is actually quite expansive as well, except the more… potent works are kept hidden from normal students so you'll need special permission."

"Thank you Headmaster," Naruto said.

"It's the least I can do for one of my favorite apprentices," the Headmaster chuckled.

* * *

Despite all these resources, Naruto found no progress in the Academy's library. Placing the Headmaster's note into his bag, Naruto said his final goodbyes to his family.

"Be good you two," Naruto told Anya and Negi as they were hugging him tightly, "Nekane better only be telling me good things, or else I won't show you all the cool spells when I visit next time."

"Just you watch nii-san," Negi said defiantly, "I'm going to be just as cool as you!"

"Me too!" Anya chimed in.

"Sure, sure," Naruto gloated, "I only have four years' worth of experience over you."

Going over to Nekane, Naruto hugged his older sister tightly, "I'll see you later nee-chan."

Nekane smiled and said, "And we'll be waiting Naruto-kun."

Nodding, Naruto walked into the airplane and began to head towards the new winter trimester.

* * *

"You've got to be kidding me," Naruto said to himself, "This is getting me nowhere."

Despite spending an hour at the Dean's office after dropping his things off in his dorm and giving a rushed explanation to his two roommates, the Dean had no idea as well, leaving Naruto with a pass into the more lucrative parts of library island while the Dean continued to pick at the shard.

Library island was literally a large island leading off from Mahora Academy. A long bridge with street lamps lighting the way led to the brick and mortar buildings. In middle was a large tower surrounded by smaller buildings, each one displaying a special form of architecture, ranging from the intricate Greek styles, while the tower was more reminiscent of Big Ben, albeit in a smaller scale.

Naruto walked into the main building of the library and exchanged his pass for a key. Going down two flights of stairs, Naruto found himself in front of two locked doors. He tried to insert the key he received, but try as he might, the key would not fit into the keyhole.

Sensing a magical aura coming from the door, Naruto realized his mistake. Facepalming, Naruto groaned at his mistake. Of course a magic library would be protected by magic. Naruto placed his hand on the door and muttered, _"Dispuslo."_

Finally opening the door, Naruto descended the spiraling staircases and started his search.

An hour into his research, he had turned up almost completely empty. The only reference he noticed was an old text on ancient artifacts detailing the discovery of a shard like what Naruto had about seven hundred years ago by a person named McDowell.

"Figures," Naruto said, "It all goes back to Eva's family. I wonder if she has some old records about this McDowell person. I think I should take this out to ask about it."

Looking intently at the informational book, Naruto hardly noticed as he bumped into another person. A loud thump echoed in the library as both Naruto and the mysterious person fell.

Shaking his head, Naruto tried to stand up, only to find himself being weighed down by another person… with curves and a feminine…

"I'm sorry!" a flustered, yet clearly female voice yelled from on top of him.

Naruto, on the other hand, could barely tell who was on top of him because his face was covered by the girl's back.

"As much as I would love to accept your apology," came Naruto's muffled voice, "I'd like it if you could get off me."

"Ahh!" the girl shrieked.

Both of them standing up, Naruto realized just who he had bumped into. Honestly, he should've known from the smell of nikuman. Looking at the girl, he could see the telltale signs of the two buns of hair with ponytails along with light, innocent sounding voice.

"Chao Linghsen," Naruto began, "What on earth are you doing here?"

"Naruto-sensei?" Chao said nervously, "Haha, well, I'm here to do research yo."

"Really now. Research for what? This part of the library is restricted to all students, so I'll ask again, what the heck are you doing here?"

"Well… I have a pass ne!" Chao said lamely, "So I decided to use it!"

"And why would you have this pass?" Naruto interrogated.

When Chao couldn't come up with an answer, Naruto sighed, "You know what? I really don't want to know. I trust my students to do the right thing, so I'll believe your research excuse, but whatever you do, be careful. Magic isn't to be tampered with."

Chao looked at Naruto in surprise. Truthfully, Naruto-sensei was an enigma to her. No matter how much she would try, she could find nothing about him. Even with her extensive database, for all records, Naruto was not supposed to exist in this world, let alone be a part of the world of magic.

"Sensei," Chao said nervously, "How do you know about this ne?"

"Chao-san," Naruto said seriously, "Don't play dumb with me. Even though I may seem like a laid back teacher and am your age, I can put two and two together. The only way to enter into this room is to be able to access or have some form of magic. The only way you can be down here would be that you know something about all of this around us."

She had no clue what to say to this, because in truth, she was caught red-handed.

"Again," Naruto continued, "I'll leave you to your devices because I trust you. I hope you don't break that trust."

'_But I need to know exactly how much HE knows,' _Chao thought to herself.

"Arigatou sensei," Chao said, bowing, "But I have to ask you, how much do you know? You seem like a normal teacher aside from your fancy smoke shows when you enter class. In fact, you seem almost like a prankster."

Naruto looked oddly at the girl. In class, while she may have been one of the top students within the school, she was also a person who was very happy-go-lucky. Always keeping busy, Chao was always involved in one club or another, ranging from robotics to martial arts, as well as running her school-wide famous kart, _Chao Bao Zi_, known for their delicious nikuman dumplings. She was always smiling, and yet at this moment, her bubbly, oblivious self was extremely serious.

'_Just what exactly are you trying to do Chao?'_ Naruto wondered to himself.

Speaking aloud, Naruto said curtly, "I know enough to need this library and its information."

Chao frowned at this lack of information. Seeing no way to go but up, Chao took a risk.

"You're not from here, are you sensei?" Chao asked quietly.

Naruto flinched at this question. It seemed so innocent, and yet it held so much heavy baggage.

"Of course I'm from here," Naruto recovered somewhat smoothly, "How else would I know all this stuff about magic and be here."

"No you aren't," Chao said, taking the opportunity.

This was the first time Chao ever had a one-on-one talk with Naruto, and she was going to have her questions answered, because Naruto was a dangerous unknown variable.

"That's not true," Naruto said, slightly panicky but schooling his features to show otherwise.

"It is true," Chao said accusingly, "Because if you were from here, I would know."

"Well, you're not omnipotent. How would you know what goes on in my life, let alone other people's lives?"

"Naruto-san?" the librarian's voice came from the door, "Are you okay down there? The Dean said he would like to see you in his office."

"I'll be there in a sec!" Naruto yelled out.

Looking at Chao, he said, "Look Chao, I'm in a rush. I'm only going to say this once. Please don't pry where you aren't supposed to and please don't betray my trust in you. I want to be able to trust my students."

Walking away, Chao could only wonder what she was going to get herself into before heading off. She had a meeting to go to as well.

* * *

"Did you need me for something Konoe-san?" Naruto asked, considering he had only been here a few hours ago.

"Yes Naruto, I was wondering if you would let some other take a look at the shard," the Dean said, "There's a chance that they may be able to do something that we can't with technology."

"At this point, I don't think I can do anything with the shard," Naruto conceded, "Sure, what can it hurt."

"Great!" the Dean said brightly, "Please come in you two."

The door opened and in came, much to Naruto's surprise, Chao Lingshen and Satomi Hakase. These two were in the top of his class, but with his prior conflict with Chao along with a lack of much contact with Satomi put Naruto a little on edge.

"Konoe-san," Naruto asked tentatively, "What are my two students doing here?"

"Well Naruto-san," the Dean said, "These two are not only among the top students of the school, but they have extensive knowledge on magic and technology. When you had left, I called these two to see if they had any idea what to do about it."

"And that's why I was in the library sensei yo," Chao continued.

'_Among other things,'_ she thought to herself.

"These two were the ones who created to Chachamaru and allowed her to run on the limited power Eva-san has," the Dean said.

"Wait, Eva-chan's on limited power? So you mean she hasn't been at a 100% all this time?" Naruto asked in disbelief.

"Of course not. She's at least ten times more powerful than she is now," the Dean replied simply, "The Thousand Master's spell binds her power and her own self to the school."

Naruto wondered exactly what Eva was capable of if with one-tenth of her power, she almost equaled Naruto's strength, if not was greater, aside from her physical restrictions. Yet this revelation only motivated Naruto to become even better, even though he knew with the seven hundred year advantage, he would be hard-pressed to meet the same level.

"Anyway, Naruto will you show them the shard?" the Dean asked.

"Of course, of course… except you have it Konoe-san," Naruto said smartly.

"Do I?" the Dean wondered to himself.

He poked around his desk, looking in various drawers, shuffling papers, and yet to no avail.

Finally, Naruto spoke up, "Konoe-san… it's next to the lamp… Weighing down your pile of records."

"Ah, yes, you're correct. I believe I left it there after Shizuka-chan came in here for a question. It makes such a good paperweight," the Dean said, smiling lightly.

Each person in the room let out a long sigh of disbelief, besides the Dean. Chao took one look at the shard in question and immediately realized what it was.

"Ah, I know what it is," Chao said, "A star shard, specifically one powered by a combination of magic and space rocks. Haha, I didn't realize it at first because the Dean just said a star-shaped rock ne. It's pretty rare to see one at this time and place, since it's been rumored to be an inaccessible item attainable only in space. I'm surprised you found one at all. It's supposed to be a very volatile artifact that can transfer people through dimensions, ripping apart at the very fabric of time and space, without any warning yo."

Naruto looked questioningly at her.

"Notice the lightning bolt and the dull green color in the center? It utilizes magic just like normal artifacts. The only problem is that it requires a conduit for the energy to transfer in. Unfortunately, this rock was created using a less than potent material ne. This means that to get it work, it needs a proper conduit to reenergize its reserves, specifically orichalcum, one of the more conductive, yet rarer materials yo," Chao explained.

"Do you think you can do it?" Naruto asked.

Satomi butted in with the answer, "I believe it's quite possible with the technology we have. If what Chao has just said is true, I think we can take apart the rock to its base components and, with enough orichalcum, stabilize it a little bit more. I don't know exactly how successful the endeavor would be, but it's quite within our parameters to attempt, if Chao's up to the challenge of course."

Chao merely glared at Satomi.

"Thank you for helping me," Naruto said, bowing to the two.

The girls lightly blushed at the praise from their sensei but took it in stride.

Satomi said, "Think nothing of it, but don't complain if something goes wrong with it. We could very well ruin whatever chance you had to use it… Which reminds me, why do you need it anyway?"

Before Naruto could butt in with a proper response, the Dean snuck in with, "Ah, that is my fault. You see, Naruto's family hails from Europe, and since I dragged him this far away, I was hoping for a way to let him visit them more often. I came across this, and so I told Naruto about it, but we haven't gotten very far as you can tell."

Naruto looked questioningly at the Dean but nodded his thanks. Chao seemed suspicious however, but said nothing about it.

Satomi said, "Simple traveling? I believe we can do much better than that. It may take a year or two for the research to be completed, but I'm sure we can do it."

"Then I leave it in your capable hands, Satomi-chan, Chao-chan," Naruto said with a bright smile.

The Dean then said, "Thank you very much. Can you two please leave though? I have a few more things to discuss with Naruto."

Nodding, Chao took the rock with her, and along with Satomi, walked back to their dorm.

Naruto turned to the Dean, "Thank you for covering for me. I had no clue how to respond to that."

"Think nothing of it Naruto-kun," the Dean said, "I'm sure if you want to tell your students, you'll tell them on your own time. However, I suggest you do open to more people than just us old people. In fact, if the Headmaster had not told me your story, I would've been just as clueless. You need to learn to trust people more intimately. You can't always hide behind your secrets."

Naruto nodded, "I will Konoe-san. It'll take some time though. For one thing, I don't even know who knows about magic and who doesn't, if today was any indication. I mean everyone's so secretive about it, it's confusing."

"Indeed, but I'm sure you'll eventually learn about each person as more time goes by."

* * *

Naruto was completely exhausted as he headed back to his dorm. While not physically damaging, the day was draining on him mentally, and all that science mumbo jumbo didn't help at all. He looked at the clock and noticed it was already eleven at night, which meant the girls would be sleeping. Settling down on the couch, he sighed as he took stock of the day's events. Quietly, he could hear a door open. Turning around, he saw Asuna rubbing her eyes wearily as she adjusted to the light.

"Naruto-sensei," Asuna said groggily, "It's late. Why are you still up?"

"Ah, I just came back from a meeting with the Dean," Naruto replied.

Settling down on the couch next to Naruto, Asuna made herself comfortable on the cushion.

"You know Naruto-sensei, you should really talk to us," Asuna said.

Remembering the Dean's words, Naruto asked, "Hm? What are you talking about?"

"Naruto no baka," Asuna said, finally fully awake, "You know what we mean. You're hiding way too much stuff from us. It's worrying Konoka a lot."

'_And it's worrying me too,'_ she thought silently.

"Well, don't wo-," Naruto began.

"Nope," Asuna said, a little angrily, "Don't even start with that stuff. You may be our sensei, but you're also our friend. You may say we don't understand, but how will you know until you try us?"

Naruto could only stare at Asuna in silence. Since when was Asuna wise and giving good advice?

"Honestly," Asuna said, a little more tenderly, "You said it yourself. We're your family now too, and we'll always be there for you. Even if you are a baka."

"Thanks Asuna-chan. I never knew you could be so caring," Naruto said.

Immediately, Asuna changed attitudes, "Ha…ha… don't get me wrong. I'm doing this for Konoka's sake. She's worried sick about you Naruto no baka. Just hurry up and be more open so I can stop all this wise crap."

With that, Asuna turned around and went back inside the room, leaving the door open for Naruto to come in later on to sleep. Remembering about the piece of information he had read, Naruto decided to call Eva before sleeping to tell her about the latest developments.

Going over the wall phone, Naruto dialed the cabin's number.

"Hello Naruto-sensei," Chachamaru's lifeless voice emanated from the phone, "Master will be with you in a second."

"Yes chi… Naruto?" Eva said through the phone.

"Hey Eva, I was just thinking you should hear about how far I've gotten with the rock you gave me."

Naruto detailed each of his discoveries or lack of at first. When it came to the library excursion, Naruto left out talking about Chao, but explained what he had found out.

"Hm, those humans do have something right. That McDowell was my father. I remember him bringing it home one day. He said that one of the new English cannons, yes they were new during the Hundred Years' War when I lived, had left a gigantic hole in our castle's garden. My father said that while he was working to fix said hole, he found the star shard deep within the crater. It was narrowly crushed by the cannonball actually, but it had barely stopped before hitting it. When I came back, no one could tell I was even gone, but the light in the rock was gone. My father said that I could have it a few days later when he could discover nothing of use coming from it."

"Ah, I see. By the way, I hope you don't mind, but I let Chao Lingshen and Satomi Hakase work on it for a while."

"Oh… YOU WHAT?" Eva yelled.

"Ah, calm down Eva-chan. They said they can do something with it."

"They'll do something alright. Ugh, well, it's too late to do anything now. Just remember, with every action, there's a consequence."

"Of course. Hey Eva, is it true that you're only at a percentage of your power?"

"Well, of course it's true, child. All this talk isn't for nothing. If I was at full power, I could probably crush you in an instant."

"Ah, I see."

"Is that all you're going to say about that?"

"Well," Naruto began, "What exactly _can_ I say to that? I mean I can't exactly argue without knowing your full power, and chances are, you probably know quite a bit more than me, considering your age."

"Haha, good, know your pla-, wait a minute, was that an insult?" Eva asked.

"Well now, look at the time. I'll see you at the beginning of the new winter term!" Naruto said hurriedly before hanging up and sneaking into the room. It was going to be a very long term.

* * *

And a long term it was.

The wait seemed forever for Naruto. His class had certainly grew more interesting as he got to know some of them a little better, but for the most part, he felt at a stasis. There was nothing he could do with the star shard, and the demon sightings had suddenly stopped. He really wanted to do more, to discover more about the star shard and deal with the trouble with that Chigusa lady, but he had no clue what he could do.

And of course, there was his class…

"Argh! Seriously you guys! Focus!" Naruto yelled out, temper getting to him.

The class sat speechless at his outburst. Naruto-sensei rarely raised his voice to the class unless it was out of petty annoyances, but he was all serious right now.

"The end of the winter term is almost here, and we've gotten absolutely nowhere!" Naruto said.

Even though the class had resolved to work harder, the results had not shown it much at all. While they had raised up their overall percentage by a little bit, they were still lying in the bottom of the pit as usual.

'_Am I just a bad teacher or something?' _Naruto wondered glumly to himself.

Seeing the worried and scared looks on his students faces, Naruto frowned to himself, "I'm sorry you guys. I know it must be hard having someone your age teaching you, especially when I'm not the best at academics. You all have been trying really hard and we have improved, even if a little. It's just hard for me to do this stuff sometimes, you know?"

While Naruto couldn't see her, Naruto could hear Sayo floating next to him and saying he wasn't such a bad teacher. Sayo spent most of her time floating around in the classroom, and while Naruto would sometime spend a few nights talking to her by the lake, she always floated next to him while he was teaching class. It was a bit disconcerting, but it was a comfort for Sayo to know that someone else acknowledged her, and so Naruto let it slide.

Chizuru Naba spoke up, "Naruto-sensei! Don't worry about it, I think I can speak for all of us and say that we love having you as a teacher."

Chizuru was an odd character, at least Naruto thought. She was the most motherly of the students and seemed to always know the right thing to say. During those wise moments, Naruto could swear she was an adult already. If he remembered right, Chizuru had actually started working at the Mahora Day Care center as a volunteer. However, Chizuru was also a bit weird, saying just as many weird comments as well as wise ones. Naruto could also swear he heard Ayaka complaining in the hallways about Chizuru being a little bit more perverted than most people. Still, he appreciated Chizuru greatly at the moment.

"Thank you Chizuru-san," Naruto said, "But we still have to find a way to improve."

It was then Ayaka raised her hand.

"Naruto-sensei, since we all dorm here, I was wondering if you think we should hold a study session over the weekend before the end of term test?" she offered.

Inwardly, Naruto groaned a little at the extra work but knew it had to be done.

"Great idea Ayaka!" Naruto said a little forcibly, "Let's have a vote as to see whether this has the class's support."

Aside from Ayaka's excited hand in the air, no one else seemed to share the same sentiments. Naruto sighed at his students lack of enthusiasm, even though he really didn't want to do any of it either.

"Fine let's make a new idea," Naruto mused, "What about this. If you girls raise your rankings from the bottom of the school to anywhere higher by the end of the school year, I'll take you on a trip for a week in the summer, my treat."

"Where exactly?" Kazami Asakura asked questioningly.

"Hmm, I'll get back to you on that," Naruto said.

The girls all audibly grumbled. Even Yue looked at Naruto oddly in disappointment.

* * *

And for that reason, the topic was closed_._ With the end of the winter term, the scores had risen, but Class 1-A had yet to rise from their bottom position. They had gained a few more points, very close to overtaking the next class, 1-B, but it was still futile.

Naruto was worried about his class. The girls were more than just his students, they were his friends now, and their education was important as Naruto had learned himself. While things like the star shard were bothering his mind constantly, he learned to let it go a little bit more. It was out of his hands, so he decided to place his trust, ironically, in the very students in his care. As for the demon sightings, the onmyōdō charm user disappeared overnight.

He had some form of interaction with his students, one way or another, and learned to appreciate their individual personalities, no matter how odd or disturbing. Chisame Hasegawa was a cynical student of his that seemed to be hiding student and also, for some reason, had reserves about having a teacher the same age as her. Ku Fei had an odd habit of saying _aru_ at the end of her sentences, but she was an energetic, lively person that, while was terrible at school, made up for it in spirit. The twins Fumika and Fuka were the pranksters of the class, and they were an oddball duo. Sometimes, they were the opposite sides of the same coin, complimenting each other, like when Fumika would be the one calming Fuka from doing too many pranks, and at times they would _be _the same coin with their love for ninja techniques.

Mana Tatsumiya, on the other hand, somewhat threw Naruto off. She never initiated any conversation, but whenever Naruto talked to her, she was polite and curt. However, Naruto learned from her dealings with her classmates, she was also quite frugal with money, as if using it quite a lot of the time. And finally, there was the twin's roommate, the source of their odd ninja obsession, Kaede Nagase, who had accosted him during the term about his techniques.

* * *

"_Ne, Naruto-sensei," the narrow-eyed girl approached Naruto, "Where did you learn how to use that smoke technique?"_

"_Ah," Naruto said, unsure of how to approach the question, "Well, it was from my hometown."_

"_That's odd, according to Konoka-san,you were from Europe," Kaede said, "What would ninjas be doing in Europe de gozaru?"_

"_Good question. Would you believe me if I picked it up from a passerby?" Naruto asked with a sigh._

"_Of course… not."_

_Naruto didn't want to lie, but he couldn't very well tell the truth, even if Kaede seemed like a ninja herself. _

"_Wait a minute, what about you?" Naruto asked, "Where are you from then?"_

"_First answer my question de gozaru," Kaede said, eyebrows slightly furrowed._

"_Fine. I can tell you this much, I learned all I did from scrolls that my… guardian left for me before he left on a very big trip," Naruto said truthfully, "Unfortunately, I don't know much about where it came from, since I haven't heard from it in almost a decade."_

_Kaede's eyes narrowed more, if it was even possible, but nodded her acceptance for the moment._

"_As for me," Kaede said, "I am a chūnin from the Koga clan. We specialize in weapons, deception, among other things de gozaru."_

'_Hm, so it seems ninjas in this world are quite different from the ones in Konoha,' Naruto thought to himself, 'Another difference between worlds.'_

"_Thank you for telling me what I wanted to know," Kaede said, bowing, "I wish you the best in your own career as a ninja."_

"_Of course," Naruto said._

_Inwardly, Naruto wondered if he would ever be a real ninja, or would he continue his happy life as a mage._

* * *

And yet now Naruto was going to the Dean's office to ask special permission for his class, halfway through the final term before the class moved on to be 2-A. He couldn't believe he was doing, but he kept good on his promises, no matter how outrageous they were. The Dean probably wouldn't approve of it, but he had promised his class a trip at the end of the year if they improved, and he would ask to the best of his ability. Taking a deep breath, Naruto raised his fist to knock on the door, only to hear the Dean call him to enter.

"Now Naruto-kun," the Dean said genially, "What would you like to request of me?"

'_Shoot, he knows I want something. This is going to be a lot harder than I thought,' _Naruto grumbled to himself.

"I would like to request to give my class a reward if they improve their standing from beyond the bottom of the school," Naruto said plainly.

"Naruto-kun, you are never one for discretion are you? You just say exactly what you want," the Dean mused with a smile.

Naruto felt himself sweat at hearing this. He couldn't tell if this judgment was simply an insight or if it was an indication of flat out rejection.

"Hmm," the Dean continued, "That is a good idea. However, I'm not sure if the school would be able to fund the entire trip. How long and where do you want to go?"

The nervous Naruto explained his plan to the Dean, showing his ability to think on the fly. Honestly, all Naruto had to go off on was a place the length of time, but somehow, Naruto managed to lie his way into having an elaborate plan of showing his students the sights and allowing them to enjoy themselves before returning home and then to the new school year.

"Ah Naruto, as much as I enjoy your… detailed planning… it has about as many holes as the sponge I use for my bath hoho."

Unbidden thoughts flew to Naruto's head as he held back a gag reflex.

"However, I digress," the Dean said, "Still, I believe your class has been working hard, considering who you have to deal with. I suppose…"

Just as that happened, the school counselor, Shizuna Minamoto walked in.

"Ah hello Naruto-sensei, how has your class been?" she asked with a smile.

"Shizuna-san! They've been good, if a little bit hectic. They remind me of… well… me," Naruto said, rubbing the back of his head.

"I'm glad to hear that. Now, I hope you're not letting your age be an excuse for their low grades," Shizuna said with a creepier smile.

"Of course not!"

"Shizuna-sensei, Naruto-kun has an interesting proposition," the Dean said.

As the Dean explained the entire situation, Naruto felt quite out of place among the adults. Even though he had been teaching for over two seasons, Naruto always felt slightly lower than the adults in their faculty discussions.

"Hmm, I like that idea," Shizuna said, "But I think we should demand some form of penalty if Naruto-kun can't make it."

"I see, like what?" the Dean asked.

When Shizuna detailed exactly what Naruto's penalty would be if he didn't improve his students grades, Naruto felt his brain shatter into a million pieces. Gulping, Naruto nodded in agreement to the arrangement, even though Naruto's logic continued to berate him. Oh the things he did for his class.

* * *

"Come on!" Naruto yelled out, "Study, study, study!"

The girls in the class were cramming frantically during the hour before the test was to be administered. While Naruto couldn't give out answers, he was driving them hard. For the past month, Naruto had been drilling every little bit of information he could into the class. They worked so hard, the students barely made it to the dorms in the afternoon when class ended.

Naruto's popularity had taken a nose dive at first, but when Naruto explained their prize, specifically instead of a simple promise of a trip, their eyes burned with intense passion. Unfortunately, Naruto had also volunteered himself to cook for his roommates every day as long as they were studying, which they utilized to the fullest extent. However, at this moment, everything was going to pay off.

Going over to Yue, Naruto leaned to see her working hard as well. Naruto remembered the begging he had to do get Yue to actually work, because his friend was a genius. The problem was that she refused to show it.

"Thank you Yue-chan," Naruto said quietly.

Yue simply nodded as she continued to peruse the various pages, albeit slightly lazily.

'_Ugh, I hate studying,' _she thought to herself, _'If Naruto hadn't bothered me so much about it, I wouldn't have done a thing. He's lucky we're friends… then again, I was lucky too, so I can't complain. Forget that, I'm complaining.'_

"Naruto," Yue said as he began walking away.

Naruto paused and heard Yue mutter, "You owe me big for this. I mean very big. You better get me my book."

He felt himself sweat at this. Every other day, Naruto and Yue spent their lunch together. While Yue had learned to make a few other friends, Yue could never forget Naruto, and so they arranged to continue to hang out. During their latest discussion, Yue told Naruto about an amazing book she found. It was a slightly expensive book about explaining philosophy in terms of the possibility of magic. Naruto knew its information on magic was probably completely off, but seeing Yue so interested in it, Naruto couldn't help sharing a little enthusiasm. In fact, Yue had insinuated, ever so bluntly, that she would like it for her birthday.

'_That girl,' _Naruto thought to himself, _'For a supposed antisocial person, she sure knows how to push the right buttons to get what she wants.'_

Still, Naruto was proud of his first friend at Mahora. She had grown from a person disillusioned of the world by her grandfather's death into a great friend, thinker, and imaginer. Yue had much more life in her, especially when they had talks about fantasy books or her friends in class. Even though she couldn't be called a social butterfly, she learned to treasure the people around her and make true friends. In the past few weeks, she was even an amazing student academically as well.

In fact every student, ranging from the excitable Asuna to the stoic Zazie had improved their grades at least a little in the past few weeks that made Naruto proud as a teacher, as arrogant as it sounded considering his age. Even Evangeline, the stubborn vampire, put more effort in her work, if only showing off her years of experience. As they began to take their final exam, Naruto could see many of his students being more confident than in the past term finals. He could only hope he could save himself the embarrassment and bring the class to success… he really didn't want to suffer.

* * *

As the bell rang, signaling the beginning of the last week of school, Naruto walked in with Shizuna-sensei. They seemed to be talking excitedly, with Naruto waving around a piece of paper animatedly. The class grew more and more rowdy as they all wondered about the results of their test. Of course they were excited. If they improved, they were going to the Chubu region to the area surrounding Mt. Fuji for a week of fun and relaxation during break. Shizuna-sensei said goodbye to Naruto as they walked in and turned to the class and gave a quick smile and wave before walking to her office.

Naruto took his place in front of his desk. After Ayaka stood up and told the class to give their greeting, Naruto smiled.

"Congratulations, Class 1-A! You guys beat both Class 1-B and 1-D. While we haven't beaten the other classes yet, I think we can with time. But you know what this means?" Naruto said excitedly.

"That we get to go on the trip?" Asuna asked with anticipation.

"Well that too, but I don't have to be punished," Naruto said cheerfully.

"What do you mean Naruto-sensei?" Evangeline asked innocently.

Of course Eva had known the whole deal, and was a little miffed that she couldn't go until the last day of the week. The curse Nagi left kept her from leaving the school grounds for too long, and so she had to wait until the last day of the trip to even think about attending.

"Why, I was going to have to wear a chicken suit and dance around the school clucking like an… idiot," Naruto finished lamely, seeing evil smirks in his students' faces.

"Naruto-sensei," Asuna said sweetly, "I think you should do that for us, considering how much we worked."

"Yeah," Ku Fei chimed in, "It's the least you could do aru."

"You don't have to do the whole school, you can just… strut… around the classroom a few times until we're satisfied de gozaru," Kaede said.

"Oh no, heck no, I already went through hell and back to let you go on this trip and plan it out. And I hate planning," Naruto grumbled.

"Come on Naruto-sensei, do it for us?" Misa Kakizaki said with a pout, using her charm as the leader of the cheerleaders of the class.

"I agree," Yue said tonelessly, yet with the slightest smirk on her face.

Suddenly, Naruto felt himself being tackled by Asuna, Konoka, along with a bunch of other students Naruto lost track of in the haze of the attack. He felt himself being pulled into a large, yellow, rubber, chicken suit.

'_Just another normal day in the life,'_ Naruto groaned to himself, crying silently as he suffered his punishment.

* * *

A/N: This one was a struggle since it was a filler. This is going to lead into an original arc which will then take us to canon. I'll be skipping things a bit once I reach canon, specifically stuff like the library expedition, which while interesting, really doesn't apply anymore since the class is already improved… although I might do something else with the Baka Rangers come the new school year.

Hopefully, you didn't get too bored by the exposition development in this chapter, but I needed something to take me to the next part. I would call it an arc, but I think the trip will only be a chapter long, maybe two depending on the amount of development I want. Also, hopefully by then, we'll have a real bite at the heart of the conflict and the beginning of the real story. I hope you guys enjoyed it.

First of all, thanks so much for the reviews! I swear, I didn't expect the response to be this great on my return. I'm so glad you guys have been sticking with me even though I'm so fickle with my updates. I'm honored to be loved by this community, and hopefully I won't let you all down.

To address the concern of an anonymous reviewer concerning why Naruto wants to return to Konoha, at least in this story… Naruto only spent 5 years in Konoha and left without really knowing it as a kid, and so Naruto's curiosity is getting the best of him. The possibilities make Naruto want to just at least see what Konoha is like now in his absence. Still, in his mind, this new world is his home, but there will always be a part of him that wants to know this other world, this other part to his identity.

Also, I would like to thank my reviewers for pointing a small error in the ages among other things, which I have fixed. Eva is also actually 700 years old, which I just realized, so the "time difference" was more like 700 years, but you'll find out more about that later. I also realized the whole three term system of Japan, so I did some light editing to show that.

Now a few quick questions for you guys with your opinions…

For pactios, I know they're a representation of the person with the pactio (Ministra?), not the person who's the Magister, so should I keep Naruto's pactio with the girls the same if he's their first pactio (instead of Negi) or should I make my own?

Also, I would like to hear your opinions on OC villains for this story. A valuable reviewer has shown me the value of having them, especially to balance both sides, but I would like to hear the opinion of other people to solidify/counter my opinion. I just need some quick opinions so I can develop the story better.

Remember, any questions or comments or advice, please tell me in a review or message! See you next time!


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